Setting Reasonable Expectations For Ravens Edge Defenders Mike Green And Zion Young

I feel like we need to begin this exercise with a Public Service Announcement: Ravens defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver was quite defensive of his players, overall, and bullish on them (going to the wall for struggling Roquan Smith and Marlon Humphrey.

Context matters, and that was the tone of the day as Organized Team Activities wound down and the coordinators met the media for the only time this spring. And, in June, in the NFL, you get desensitized to the litany of storylines about everyone being in the best shape of their lives and everyone primed for a breakout season. So that was in the back of my mind as Weaver sized up what he’s seen from youngsters Mike Green and Zion Young.

After years of hearing guys like former pass-rush specialist Chuck Smith and ex-coordinator Zach Orr wax poetic about Odafe Oweh’s emergence or the exhaustive toolkit of David Ojabo, it’s difficult to not have a jaundiced ear when the coaches start talking about young edge defenders like Green and Young.

Fool me once, and all of that.

And while Weaver is in a different role with this staff, he is no newcomer to Baltimore and he’s been a part of several staffs that just could not cultivate or manufacture pass rush. Which is why they tried to trade for Maxx Crosby – breaking tendency for what they offered – and then threw $60M at Trey Hendrickson for two years and still went and grabbed Calias Campbell after being too fragile to secure him as a free agent a year ago.

So the roster is much better and both of these youngsters – Green, the 59th overall pick in 2025, and Young, 45th overall in April – should therefore have a better chance to succeed in 2026. And if the overall defense is better – and it almost has to be – the climate to develop young players on the fly will be better. Frankly, I have an easier time buying what Weaver was welling about these kids than I did the veterans likely in their final years with this franchise, and he made a fairly compelling case for both.

Assuming reasonable expectations. Which is a specialty around here.

Green's Magic Number

The Ravens asked way too much of a situational pass rusher a year ago, and we’ve chronicled how over exposed he was in general and especially on early downs as part of a run defense that was not special. Expecting him to help in that regard with stud defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike out for most of the season and run-stuffer Broderick Washington in decline, was more than a reach. It was downright silly.

Rookie head coach Jesse Minter is too much of a mastermind on that side of the ball to let it happen again. It won’t and, with the fortified roster, it won’t have to.

Maximizing the sub packages in obvious passing situations where Green can play off others in a NASCAR type look should be the objective. And it stands to reason that with a proven closer in Hendrickson here to command double teams, Green could be one to primarily benefit from that.

“I love that room,” Weaver said of the edge group. ”I love Mike Green. A year ago, when I was in Miami (as defensive coordinator), Mike was one of, if not, he was top one or two on our [draft] board in terms of outside linebackers.

“So, to be here now and have the opportunity to get my hands on him and work with him a little bit, as well as [outside linebackers coach] Harland Bower – who has been outstanding – [we're] super excited. There's so many plays, and I made this cut-up for him where I showed him just how close he was to potentially having a double-digit sack season.

“So, it's not an ability thing. We need the corresponding coverage to help out, but he is milliseconds away from having double-digit sacks, and we are going to do everything we can to try to make that happen this year."

Less snaps (only Smith and Travis Jones played more than his 686 among Ravens front seven defenders), placed more strategically amid personnel groupings, amid better schemed and more difficult to dissect blitz patters, should help Green get there. Something like 8 sacks doesn’t seem unreasonable to me, and I’m buying what Weaver is selling here for the most part.

The Most Important Down For Young

If Green does what we believe is possible, and assuming Hendrickson does not fall off completely from his 2024 form, then we’re going to continue to evaluate Young from a run-down perspective. He was not an overwhelming pass rusher in college, the Ravens have struggled mightily projecting that in all of Eric DeCosta’s drafts, and while we think this staff can buck some of that over time, it will take time.

When you take an edge in the second round over more pressing needs at pass catcher and center, you are going to talk up pass rush. Because that’s sexy. What Young truly brings is a power profile for early downs, with a considerable trunk that the Ravens love to help set the edge.

What they need is for him to be one of their top two or three edge defenders against the run, to help spell Hendrickson, and allow all of these puzzle pieces to fit in a grand tapestry of getting to the quarterback as a collective. I really don’t care how many sacks he registers as long as this team has a formidable overall pass rush.

And Weaver by no means went overboard in over-selling him in that regard.

"He's as advertised,” Weaver said. “The physical nature that he plays with, even out here without pads, you see it – how hungry he is to just want to grow and get better. He's constantly asking questions.

“So, [I] couldn't be more excited about a player than I am about that kid, because you see just how bad he wants to be great. Inevitably through repetition, with that being the mother skill, he'll get there."

Young has a huge personality and his motor can get him trouble sometimes. As the first defensive player selected of the Minter regime, there will all kinds of hype through training camp and the preseason about him. He’ll get lots of reps when vets rest. And that helps sell tickets and all of that. Let me see a winning defender against the run, and we’ll worry about a full array of pass-rush moves by 2028.

Subscribe On YouTube For The Best Ravens Coverage:

Add us as a preferred source on Google