Ravens: Breaking down newly-signed DT Jovan Swann

The Baltimore Ravens already have one of the best defensive lines in football, but eyeing some depth, the team signed undrafted free agent Jovan Swann to a contract on Tuesday.

The team announced that they had signed Swann following a season-ending torn Achilles suffered by fellow undrafted rookie Xavier Kelly who was waived/injured yesterday as well.

Swann will look to make a positive first impression during OTAs where he’ll attempt to carve out a role for himself on the roster — or at the very least, the practice squad.

But just who is Jovan Swann? What should Ravens fans be excepting from him?

What are the Ravens getting in Jovan Swann?

A three-star recruit out of Indiana, Swann opted to head out west and attend Stanford over other schools such as Michigan State, Iowa, Indiana, North Carolina, and Boston College.

Swann redshirted his first season and became a part of the defensive line rotation in his freshman year before taking over as a starter in 2018.

He earned All-Pac-12 honorable mentions following a sophomore campaign that saw him rack up 4.5 sacks, 28 tackles, and seven tackles for loss.

The following year, in 2019, he once again finished second on the team in sacks, finishing with 5.5, while also tallying 32 tackles and eight tackles for loss.

Swann opted to transfer to his hometown Indiana Hoosiers as a graduate student in 2020, although he found considerably less success there.

The 6-foot-2, 280-pounder started just one of six games and recorded only four tackles and no sacks. As a result, a player who was seen as a possible Day 3 pick saw his draft stock plummet and he went undrafted in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Swann was invited to the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie minicamp last month and worked out with the Houston Texans shortly thereafter, but neither workout resulted in a contract.

That was until the Ravens came calling.

Swann primarily played in a three-man front at Stanford before transitioning to a four-man front at Indiana. In Baltimore, he’ll likely be asked to switch back to more of a 3-4 defensive end role.

The Ravens found themselves in desperate need of defensive line depth following Kelly’s injury during OTAs. The likes of Brandon Williams, Calais Campbell, Derek Wolfe, and Justin Ellis were all absent from OTAs leaving the team very thin at the position.

Once Kelly went down, the only defensive linemen left on the depth chart were 2020 draft picks Justin Madubuike and Broderick Washington and former undrafted free agents Aaron Crawford and Braxton Hoyett.

Swann might not be anything more than training camp depth. But if he could prove his worth this summer, perhaps he’ll convince the Ravens to at least keep him around on the practice squad.