With the 2025 NFL Draft right around the corner, the Baltimore Ravens are sneakily staring down one of the most important offseasons in recent memory. And like clockwork, draft smoke is starting to build, especially around how the Ravens will look to improve their pass rush for next season.
On paper, Texas A&M edge rusher Shemar Stewart is everything a team could want: 6-foot-5, 267 pounds, 4.59 forty, 40-inch vertical, perfect 10.0 Relative Athletic Score. Those are the kind of measurements NFL teams typically drool over.
But not everyone’s sold. Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report named Stewart as the one player Baltimore should avoid on draft night. His reasoning is the production never matched the profile. Stewart logged just 4.5 sacks in college and still looks like more of a project than a plug-and-play disruptor.
Still, Stewart’s upside makes him a horrifically intriguing possibility for edge-needy teams. Just maybe not Baltimore—and especially not after his recent comments on NFL Network.
Shemar Stewart might have just crossed himself off Baltimore’s board
Stewart joined Jamie Erdahl and Tom Pelissero this week for a sit-down ahead of the draft. During the conversation, Erdahl asked Stewart if there was one quarterback in the NFL he’d love to sack—someone he’d want to introduce himself to the hard way, face to face after a takedown.
Erdahl followed with a simpler version: “[Do] you have a quarterback you want to get after?”
“Definitely Lamar or Patrick Mahomes,” Stewart answered immediately.
Pelissero followed up: “Can you chase down Lamar?”
Stewart had fun with the question: “Oof, I know I’m fast, but I don’t think…” he said, laughing. “I ain’t going to say that one,” he added, still laughing.
Full clip of the video can be found here.
The moment was honest. And it was funny. But it also might have just been the unofficial moment Stewart got crossed off the draft board.
Stewart’s not the first guy to put Jackson on his dream quarterback sack list. He definitely won’t be the last. But there’s a difference between dreaming and actually catching No. 8 in the open field. That is infinitely easier said than done. Lamar is shifty. He has left a trail of physically exhausted bodies in his wake over the years. And these bodies just happen to be professional athletes.
Teair Tart had him dead to rights last season. So did Sam Hubbard. One ended up in a different galaxy, the other got stiff-armed twice before Lamar casually floated a touchdown to Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone. We’re talking about a two-time MVP who just passed Mike Vick as the most prolific rushing QB in NFL history. It's just who he is.
So sure, Stewart might be an other-worldly athlete. And maybe he ends up being a stud down the line. But pairing ‘developmental edge’ with ‘accidentally volunteered Lamar Jackson as your dream sack target’ probably isn’t the best look for a team that’s trying to win now, with Lamar at the center of it all.
To be fair, Stewart didn’t say he could sack Lamar or chase him down. But if he ends up in Baltimore, it’s still a funny twist. Says he wants a shot at Lamar, then spends every practice chasing him around, knowing even if he gets his chance, he can’t finish the play anyway.
All jokes aside, could the Ravens still draft him? Of course. And honestly, for Stewart’s sake, it might be better if the Ravens do—at least that way he won’t have to find out the hard way what it’s like chasing Lamar in open space. After all, everyone wants a shot at Lamar until they don't.