Baltimore Ravens advanced stats review: Justin Madubuike

As Justin Madubuike is entering his fourth season with the Baltimore Ravens he is starting to become a more household name in the NFL. He has gotten better each season and is expected to continue to grow deeper into his career. After a solid third season with the Ravens, what do the advanced stats say about Justin Madubuike?

Baltimore Ravens advanced stats review: Justin Madubuike

Pressures Per Snap

Justin Madubuike had a pressure per snap rate of 7.5% in 2023. That was good for 39th amongst 67 qualified defensive tackles, per PFF. To be fair he also went from 277 pass rush snaps to 424. He also jumped from a 4.7% pressure rate in year two to 7.5% so it does speak to his growth. He not only was more efficient, he did it on nearly double the amount of work.

Names he is around include Derrick Brown, Sheldon Rankins, and Davon Hamilton. These are solid players, but the elite names such as Chris Jones and Javon Hargrave are over 12%.

Pass Rush Win Rate

Justin Madubuike also had a 14% pass rush win rate which ranked him 42nd amongst 59 qualified defensive tackles. Still, once again, this is a strong increase from his 9.1% win rate last year. It is even more impressive knowing he increases his win rate that much on such a bigger workload.

Run Stops per Snap

Justin Madubuike records a run stop 10.1% of the time he plays run defense. That is a better rate and has him 28th among 67 qualified interior linemen. For perspective, Chris Jones was at 10.4%, and Calais Campell was at 9.8%, so these are the names he wants to be around. Still, there is a higher ceiling of 13% and higher, which is where DeForest Buckner, Jon Allen, Cam Heyward, Aaron Donald, and Christian Wilkins sit.

It is worth adding those players are all more experienced than Madubuike at this point in their careers. His run stop rate was 10.7% last year, so he could grow, but he mainly stayed even in this area, while he went from below average to average as a pass rusher.

Missed Tackle Rate

One area where Madubuike will have to improve his game is missed tackles. He had a 19% missed tackle rate last season, which was second-worst in the NFL. When Folo Fatukasi and Kurt Hinish are the names around you, you may not be in the right spot. To be fair, his missed tackle rate last season was 7.9% and even with his awful year in 2022 in this area, his career rate is 14%.

So, this was the one knock on him getting more snaps in the run game. However, you could also argue that if he turned a few of those missed tackles into stops, he would have seen that improvement across the board.

Overall

Now that Justin Madubuike has proven that he can handle the NFL the question has shifted to how high can his ceiling get, and what type of contract will NFL teams offer him. So, Madubuike is good in run defense, but if he wants to become an elite player, he can improve in this area. The key will be reducing missed tackles.

On the flip side, he saw massive growth as a pass rusher, but we still need to see more. When you consider some big-name pass rushers on the Ravens are moving on, they need someone to fill that role, and they saw Madubuike take a big step from year two to three. If he can take another step he will be well-rounded across the board, and continue his ascent up the list of top defensive tackles.

For now, he is a good player who is established in the NFL, but still has improvements to make.