While the Baltimore Ravens may have the best offense in all of football, their defensive regression without many of last year's starters and DC Mike Macdonald has been startling. The secondary has been bad, but David Ojabo and the pass rush have looked just as toothless.
The Ravens didn't choose to invest heavily in the pass rush this offseason, as they were banking on Ojabo and the rest of the unit waking up to turn them into a ferocious assemblage of talent.
Instead, Ojabo's inability to take the next step has hurt the Ravens. With a huge game against the Pittsburgh Steelers coming up, the Ravens made a move that could signal the end of Ojabo's career with the team.
Ojabo has been deactivated for the third time in the last four weeks, while third-round rookie Adisa Isaac will suit up against Pittsburgh. The Ravens gave Ojabo a chance to succeed, but he is looking more like a flop as the season has gone on. He likely will not be back in 2025.
It's the third healthy scratch for David Ojabo in the past four weeks.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) November 17, 2024
DT Travis Jones (ankle), who was questionable, is active and will play. https://t.co/NjELmxTsM7
Ravens pass rusher David Ojabo declared inactive vs. Steelers
Ojabo would have been a first-round pick in 2022 based on his tape at Michigan, but he slid to No. 45 overall after a torn Achilles during his pro day. Ojabo was taken with the expectations that Baltimore's player development staff could nurse him to full health and bring out the star from Ann Arbor.
Unfortunately, injuries and his own personal ineffectiveness have taken their toll on him. Ojabo had just two sacks and seven tackles coming into 2024, when the Ravens drafted Isaac in the third round to compete with him. So far, Ojabo has just five tackles and one more sack, which has been bitterly disappointing.
Isaac might not be ready for a full-time role just yet, but the Penn State product has oodles of speed and a refined pass rush technique. Even if he struggles in other areas, he should be able to bring the juice that Ojabo has lacked for his entire 2024 campaign. The future, quite simply, looks bleak.
Ojabo should be heralded for even making it to the NFL after his injuries, but he has run out of road in Baltimore. It seems unlikely that he will return to the Ravens in 2025, and it seems equally unlikely that he will suit up in another game this year, barring injuries to players ahead of him.