Three Breakout Candidates Who Could Help Lift Ravens In 2026

In recent years, the Ravens have experienced a few breakthrough years from young players.

Punter Jordan Stout went from someone who many thought needed a veteran in camp to push him a year ago to a Pro Bowl who landed a legit free-agent deal. Zay Flowers leapt forward in 2024, his second season, after ending 2023 with a meltdown in the AFC Championship Game. Kyle Hamilton and Nnamdi Madubuike elevated to another level in 2023, as the Ravens defense became the first in league history to lead the NFL points allowed, sacks and takeaways.

It’s difficult to predict that any of the club’s young veterans will ascend to Pro Bowl or All Pro levels this season – that’s a tall task – but in what was overall a lost 2025 season for this franchise, there are some youngsters who flashed and took strides (even if some of them also backtracked in certain ways). And with a new coaching staff and strategic and schematic changes afoot, it’s the time of year where we can dream on talent a little bit and project and hope.

I find myself having a far easier time with this on the defensive side of ball. I buy head coach Jesse Minter as an immediate difference on that side of the ball, because he has an esteemed body of work doing just that. I’m far more skeptical about making that leap for rookie offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, 30. And a lot of the mid-20s purge that left in free agency was on the offensive side of the ball, and I’m worried about this offensive line, and that can undermine everything when the Ravens have the ball.

But I found myself gravitating to there players as the ones to watch in terms of a true breakout. We documented the top 10 healthy Ravens veterans to begin the week, and we'd be surprised if a few of these names aren't on that list a year from now:

FS Malaki Starks

He oozes athleticism and he cares deeply and he is all ball and he studies the game and he played at an elite level in the SEC at a program in Georgia that keeps pumping out impact defenders. Minter did wonders with the Chargers secondary and he has a full compliment of safeties to toggle between and put Starks in position to make more plays on the ball and tap into his range. The Ravens have had tremendous success culling value from free safeties historically.

The 2025 first-round pick stands to be in a much better environment than in his rookie year, where the entire defense crumbled around him. He was dealing with new starters at his position coming over in trade in the middle of the season, and adjusting Hamilton’s role too late. Things should be settled in that regard from the get go this year. Needs to develop his ballskills more.

EDGE Mike Green

Perhaps no young players in the Ravens defense got thrown more into the deep end than Green a year ago. He played far too many snaps last season (686), for starters, which was third behind only MLB Roquan Smith and DT Travis Jones among all Ravens front-seven players. Bonkers for someone who should have been a third-down, situational pass rusher, mostly from the edge. And that’s what he will be now that top free agent Trey Hendrickson and second-round pick Zion Young are here.

Green also somehow played 290 first-down snaps, third among all Ravens front seven players. He has limitations as a run defender despite his size, and that’s not why he was selected on the second day of the draft. A more nuanced and stylized role in certain packages would be best for him and the team, and I can’t imagine Minter isn’t all about that.

LB Teddye Buchanon

Is he the apprentice to Smith, should his play continue to decay? Can he become a chess piece in Minter’s defense, finding ways to use Trent Simpson’s superior athleticism in small doses, and featured Buchanon’s superior tackling and instincts and understanding of the core principles of what it takes to survive in the NFL?

You hate to go through an exercise like this and just focus on more high-profile recent picks. This fourth-round pick showed a year ago as a rookie that he belonged as more than just a special teams contributor and his engine might propel him even further in what should be a far more sound and consistent defense in 2026.

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