Predicting who will lead the Ravens in sacks in 2022
By Kristen Wong
Who will lead the Baltimore Ravens in total sacks in the 2022 season? Read on for our not-so-controversial prediction…
The top candidates for sack leader seem fairly obvious on paper given that Baltimore hasn’t made any drastic changes to its outside linebacker unit this offseason.
In 2021, Tyus Bowser and Odafe Oweh led the unit with seven sacks and five sacks respectively while re-signed veteran Justin Houston posted 4.5 sacks on the year.
Those three arguably have the best chance of leading the team in sacks this upcoming season, and of them all, we have to pick the player with the most upside: Odafe Oweh.
The 2021 first-rounder started his rookie campaign off strong with three sacks in the Ravens’ first five games, yet he only recorded two more for the remainder of the season.
After Baltimore failed to improve its pass-rushing unit this offseason, Oweh carries the brunt of the team’s expectations to experience a significant Year 2 jump and a projected breakout season.
So far in training camp, it certainly seems like Oweh has his sack stats on his mind.
Odafe Oweh said he keeps a running tally of sacks in Ravens camp. Some days it’s two, other days it’s three, etc.
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) August 16, 2022
Then John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson will try to tell him it wouldn’t have actually happened. “I would’ve juked you,” Lamar tells him. He disagrees. pic.twitter.com/VwlsGGI0jH
Ravens’ Odafe Oweh in prime position to become the team’s sack leader in 2022
Of course, sacks represent just one statistic of many used to describe a pass-rusher’s performance, but Oweh equally shined in quarterback pressures, too. In the 2021 season, Oweh recorded the second-most pressures by rookies with 47, trailing Micah Parsons who had 59.
No Raven has reached double digits in sacks since Terrell Suggs in 2017, and while Bowser can boast more experience and familiarity in the Ravens’ system, Oweh has more raw talent and a higher ceiling, and it isn’t hard to imagine Oweh leapfrogging Bowser this year and even doubling his sacks from 2021.
Oweh’s competition, after all, appears tame. Bowser tore his Achilles late last season and faces an uphill battle to be healthy in time for Week 1; the aging Justin Houston could be seen as a desperate, last resort re-signing whose production will either stay the same or decline in 2022.
In college, Oweh recorded seven sacks in his first two seasons at Penn State despite starting just one game. Critics will point out that Oweh failed to register a sack in his last collegiate season in 2020, but it’s important to keep in mind that Oweh only started playing football in his junior year at high school.
As a late bloomer, Oweh just scratched the surface of his glimmering potential in 2021, and he enters his second year with the chip on his shoulder not yet thawed all the way.
This offseason, Oweh has been finetuning his pass-rushing skills in Mike Macdonald’s new-look defense and we should see more from the young outside linebacker in all areas: more explosion off the edge, more tactical awareness, more pressures, more smart coverage.
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One NFL linebacker coach who had worked him out prior to the draft said of Oweh: “He could become a 15-sack guy or he could just as easily be out of the league in three years.”
We’re betting on the former.