Baltimore Ravens News: Roquan Smith advanced stats review

We saw the Baltimore Ravens' defense improve drastically when the team traded for Roquan Smith. So, what do the advanced stats say about the first year that Smith had with the Ravens? To be fair, it was only nine games, but we could definitely get a glimpse into what the stats say about Smith.

Baltimore Ravens News: Roquan Smith advanced stats review

Run Stop Rate

With a 13.7% run stop rate Roquan Smith had the 20th-best rate out of 61 qualified linebackers. It is interesting to note that Smith had a higher rate in the last two seasons with the Chicago Bears. However, the key difference is that his presence on the field has made Patrick Queen better.

The run-stop rate of Smith dropped and went up for Queen after the trade. This speaks to the idea that Smith is processing things in the middle and he was letting Queen be the run-and-chase player.

Missed Tackle Rate

Smith ranked 15th in missed tackle rate. Interestingly, this was also worse than his last season with the Chicago Bears. Still, this has always been a strength to his game, and his career rate is 8.4%, and that is after an 8.9% missed tackle rate this season.

Yards per target

Roquan Smith had a 7.7 yards per target allowed. Once again this went up from last year, but once again the difference was that other players were better. In fact, Queen went from 8.3 to 7.5 in 2023 with the addition of Roquan Smith.

Yards after the catch per reception

Roquan Smith was strong in this area, ranking 19th out of 61 qualified linebackers. This is where we can see the average depth of the target to see why his yards per target went up. With the Chicago Bears, he was asked to defend the flats, and his ADOT was 2.4, but with Baltimore, he was defending the middle portion of the field, and his ADOT shot up to 5.3. So, his yards per target went up because when he was targeted, it was deeper down the field. Also, his yards after the catch went down because he was not running to the sidelines and was not stopping passes near or behind the line with room to run.

Forced Incompletion Rate

if there is one area that Smith should improve in, it is his forced incompletion rate. With a 3% rate in 2022, he was 46th best. This is interesting because his role in Chicago was more about tackling the catch, and this role should have given him more chances to make plays on the ball. However, he was worse. His rate was 7% in 2020 and 8% in 2021. That is closer to 17-20th in the NFL. Still, if his rate did double back to normal, it would be a massive impact and a strong decrease in his yards per target. We will see if he can be a better playmaker in coverage.

Pressure Rate

Roquan Smith rushes the passer 11.5% of the time, which ranks 34th in the NFL. He ranked 25th in win rate, but sixth in pass rush productivity. So, there are two ways to look at it. First, he gets turns his wins into production, which is great. However, he also may have been getting lucky with the production because he is not winning as clean.