Roquan Smith's Ringing Endorsement Of Young Linebackers Bodes Well For Ravens

So much attention with the Ravens linebacking room in 2026 is focused on $20M a year veteran Roquan Smith, and whether he can return to form from a two-year slide.

Smith, for his part, seems sleeker and speedier than this time a year ago, for starters, and he now has an ace defensive coordinator calling plays for him instead of an experimental one. And, most importantly of all, All Pro defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, who played just two games last season, seems headed for a return, and him in front of Smith makes all the difference in the world.

However, you never know how things will play out, and Smith has been savaged in coverage and attacked by opposing quarterbacks and he is carrying thousands of reps and thousands of collisions on his frame now at age 29. Baltimore has a deep lineage of outstanding middle linebackers, and while designations and positions get muddied in hybrid fronts and in the hands of coordinators like Jesse Minter, the idea that Smith has to play every single down could perhaps be challenged this season.

Even if Smith is looking far closer to his 2023 form. Because, perhaps, other options may abound in certain situations.

To that end, the development of second-year linebacker Teddye Buchanan (still on the PUP list coming off ACL surgery but making real strides) will be imperative, and, perhaps, after failing to live up to his draft billing and hype, Trenton Simpson could find his way and a revamped defense in 2026. Smith, who hasn’t been super vocal outwardly about much the last few years, was quite verbose in his assessment of where both key young linebackers are, and what he thinks they have to offer.

Much To Prove

While Smith made it clear earlier this offseason he knows his play must elevate, he also has a deep reservoir of success to cull from. Not Simpson, who never quite found a role in Zach Orr’s defense and was supplanted by Buchanan a year ago.

It’s fair to wonder if that might be the case again this year, and how much of a fight it will take to make the team and be active on game days with a major influx of talent on that side of the ball. Smith believes Simpson, the 86th overall pick in 2023, has put in the time away from the facility to be ready to shine at camp.

“On the field, he is one of those guys that is eager to learn about anything and everything — anything you put down, he wants to pick it up,” Smith said after Thursday's practice, also praising him as an exemplary young man. "He is like a sponge.

“Honestly, and I'm not just saying this because it's media … he is in peak physical shape. His physique is like no other. What he is doing mentally right now — not making the same mistakes twice and things of that nature — I am just excited for him to show what he is about and what he has been holding in.

“Make no mistake about it, he knows what this year is — this is his last year on his contract — and it is about going out and proving it to himself first and foremost, and then showing it to the world. I already believe in him and everyone else in the building believes in him as well, and it is just about going out and showing that game in and game out, but it is starting right now throughout practice.”

Quite high praise indeed.

Simpson will get quite an opportunity in the preseason games. Perhaps he will make the most of it. Smith pointed out it’s the first time Simpson will have the same position coach two years in a row, and he was asked to do things in the NFL he had not done in college.

“A lot of pressure was on him early on,” Smith noted. “He can handle it, and he has handled it to the best of his ability. He is always chin up, chest out, never drops his head, and comes in the same person day in and day out — and you can't do anything but respect a guy like that."

Buchanan Bouncing Back

Smith is just the latest in the organization to rave about the way Buchanan has thrown himself mind, body and soul into his recovery. He exceeded all reasonable expectations as a rookie and projected great athletic traits and instincts, with more play maker in him that anyone could have hoped for in a broken defense for a guy who was supposed to be a special teams contributor.

The best is clearly still yet to come.

“The way that guy is looking and what he has been doing — I am like, 'I wish I could do some of the stuff he is doing,'” Smith said. “You would never know he has had that type of injury or whatever. He is the type of guy - just puts his head down and grinds.

“And he knows what he wants for himself. Very mature beyond his years — I have said that many times before — and I think that just echoes. A little adversity, he is not letting it phase him one bit. He is like, 'Hey, it happened, so what — now what?'

“That is what he is going to do. He is just going to continue to prove doubters wrong — starting at small-school ball, transferring out — he has always had the odds against him in a sense, and he is just going to continue to do that. I am excited for his journey as well, and I think whenever he gets back it is going to be a great addition for all of us."

It’s not crazy to think this position group will be better and deeper than it’s been in years. And with Minter needing perhaps even fewer of them on the field in some situations than how they were deployed before, that depth might feel even more pronounced.

That, frankly, was unfathomable a year ago.

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