Will Zion Young Be The One To Snap The Ravens Draft Pass Rush Rut? I'll Have To See It To Believe It

Whatever this draft has to offer in terms of pass rush – from the very top of the first round through day three – was starting to get thinned out.

The Ravens were watching potential target after potential target to address a front seven that became very suspect a year ago come off the board. And they didn’t want to miss out. So they grabbed the prospect they believed had to the best ability to add depth in that regard, and used their second-round pick on outside linebacker Zion Young out of Missouri.

It’s as simple as that. And there is seven years of draft data under this front office, as well as what I've heard from trusted and proven evaluators, to make me skeptical this is the pick that will snap a troubling trend.

This team absolutely needs to upgrade its group of pass catchers. It’s going to have to fortify the interior defense sometime soon as well. But the science of the draft is finding the waves you need to ride before they crest, while hoping that the inevitable run on players at other critical positions in later rounds doesn’t crash before you select again. And whatever the second and third tier of EDGE/OLB prospects turn out to be, it’s clear the Ravens didn’t want to miss out on it.

Why Worry? Let Me Remind You Of Recent Drafts

FOMO might be no beuno here, however.

“He’s a kid that probably should have gone later in this draft, but the’re reacting to what’s going on around them,” said one longtime NFL personnel executive of the Ravens selection. ”The edge rushers were flying off the board, and they didn’t want to miss out. He’s the 10th edge rusher off the board already, 11th if you count (Arvell) Reese. He’ll probably be an OLB for them, with the hope he can be a pass-rush specialist.”

Young is far from a sure thing, and this is an area of the draft – late first round to mid second-round – where this franchise has particularly struggled to identify pass rush talent or linebackers who can get to the quarterback. Linebacker Patrick Queen (who was never going to stay inside as a LB) was a one-contract guy at 28th overall in 2020.

Odafe Oweh (31st in 2021) was mostly a washout as a consistent pass rusher with them before he took off after a midseason trade to the Chargers. David Ojabo (45th in 2022) was a total bust. Mike Green (59th overall in 2025) had a very tepid rookie season. If you want to include third-round, Adisa Isaac (93rd overall in 2024) has been hurt and fringy and Trenton Simpson (86th overall in 2023) was supposed to have the athleticism and twitch to offer some pass rush and that hasn’t showed up, either.

So, yeah, I have a fair amount of pause on this one. Color me a skeptic that general manager Eric DeCosta will clear up what has been a massive blind spot for him in this of all drafts, with so many unsure of exactly how much quality there was to offer among this position group in particular outside of the top few selections.

Their analytics guys and their models and their scouts and their GM have gotten it wrong with remarkable consistency, whether the prospect had all metrics and no sacks (Oweh) or the opposite or some combination of both. Color me even more concerned when another longtime evaluator who scouted Young closely said: “He’s a project for me. I don’t like his run defense. Kind of a one-trick pony.”

At this area of the draft – and especially this group of draftable players – you are getting players with faults. But given the current state of this roster, even after the Trey Hendrickson signing, the Ravens are going to need Young to contribute. Maybe his presence will light a fire under Green.

Call me crazy, but grabbing Vandy tight end Eli Stowers here and spending a few million to bring Jadveon Clowney back might have accomplished more.

But if this ends up like anything close to a redshirt year for him, there will ample opportunity to criticize the decision to try to get into the tail end of a run on a position group rather than start their own. There are years of draft date on this front office and these type of prospects/projects to make one skeptical.

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