When Odafe Oweh exploded with five sacks in his rookie season with the Baltimore Ravens a lot of fans thought that a star was born. However, he fell back to earth with just three sacks in his second season. With the help of PFF, we can contextualize some of this, and add clarity with advanced stats. What do the advanced stats say about the second season for Odafe Oweh?
Baltimore Ravens advanced stats review: Odafe Oweh
Pressures Per Snap
Last season Odafe Oweh was recording pressure on 10.4% of his pass rush snaps. That puts him 41st out of 73 qualified edge rushers. That is just a little below average. However, to be fair some names that he is around include T.J. Watt, Yannick Ngakoue, and Chandler Jones. These are good names, but nobody is saying that they had a career year in 2022.
The best names last year would be Micah Parsons and Nick Bosa. Parsons was getting pressure on 18.3% of his snaps, and Bosa was at 16.5%. Even last year Oweh was at 11.6%, which is not quite to their elite level, but it was better. Unfortunately, he saw a decline this past year.
Pass rush win rate
An interesting statistic in the profile of Odafe Oweh is his pass rush win rate. Owen had a 23.1% win rate last season, which ranked 29th. This is above average compared to his peers. What makes it interesting is last year he had a 19.3% win rate.
The reality is that he actually was winning more of the one-on-one battles, but it just was not converting to pressure. Sometimes in those small samples, it can happen that way. So, he may have had an extra pressure or two in 2021 based on his win rate and lost it back in 2022 due to his win rate.
The thought would be that if he continues to improve his win rate, there could be an even bigger breakout coming, and he could shoot back up with more pressures soon.
Run Stops per Snap
Last season we did see growth from Oweh in one area, and that was run defense. He jumped from an 11.3% run stop per snap rate as a rookie up to 13.2% in his second season. That put him at 11th in the NFL last year. DeMarcus Lawrence led the league at 16.5%, so that is something to strive for, but is much closer than the difference between first and himself in pass rushing.
Some names around Oweh include Maxx Crosby, Myles Garrett, and TJ Watt. Last season, Watt had a 13.2% run stop per snap rate and a 10.5% pressure per snap rate. Oweh was at 13.% and 10.4% in those respective areas. Again, this was by the standards of TJ Watt, but a down year for Oweh is on that level.
Missed Tackle Rate
One way to improve on your run-stopping is to cut out the missed tackles. Oweh dropped from a 16.7% missed tackle rate down to 15.2% last season. This puts him right about average, ranking 38th out of 73 rushers.
Overall
It is easier to walk away from the advanced stats and feel better about Odafe Oweh and what he can do in 2023. His pass rush win rate improved, so while the pressures and sacks did not come, they could come back around to help him if he improves his win rate again. Beyond that, we saw real steps as a run defender, and that has to make you excited. Now, the question is will Oweh progress into a reliable starter, or can he take that jump and try to be elite?