Teddye Buchanan is back. Sort of. The second-year pro returned from his ACL tear in Sunday’s win over the Dallas Cowboys, except he wasn’t even close to playing at full capacity. He only played three snaps.
Honestly, this was somewhat expected. Buchanan tore his ACL in mid-December; being on the field in Week 3 was a miracle. All offseason, general manager Eric DeCosta and head coach Jesse Minter commended his recovery, but he clearly has some work to do before he gets regular snaps.
And when you have the best-case rehab as Buchanan did, it might be smart to play it safe before fully unleashing him. It looks like that’s exactly what the Ravens are be doing: slowly easing him back into action.
Baltimore Ravens can slowly ease Teddye Buchanan back into action
The Ravens have no reason to rush Teddye Buchanan back. He’s obviously healthy enough to be available, but it could take another week or two before he’s fully ready for an ample snap share. Slowly increasing his usage rate week-by-week before getting back in as a rotational linebacker might be the way to go.
And Baltimore really have their starting linebackers set in stone right now. Yes, the defense is enduring some struggles right now. They’re doing fine at linebacker, though.
Roquan Smith looks to be back in Pro Bowl/All-Pro worthy form, and the biggest development? The emergence of Trenton Simpson. He’s shown signs of a breakout before; however, this is three straight weeks where he’s looked like one of the best defenders on the field.
So far, there haven’t been that many running plays that have hit the second level without running into Simpson. He plays with outstanding speed and anticipation, explodes through blocks, and has a nose for the football. He's giving Baltimore all the more reason to take it easy with Buchanan.
It’s also getting to the point where you just can’t break up the Smith/Simpson partnership. That’s one part of the defense that isn’t really broken. So in the first week with Buchanan back on the field, there wasn’t much of motive to switch it up.
Buchanan should use Sunday’s slow ramp-up period to hit his stride for his real 2026 debut. He was electric in his rookie campaign, and his best trait was his ability to play like his hair was on fire. It seemed like he was always running at 100 miles per hour, and when that’s your playstyle, it may take some time before you look like your usual self after an ACL tear.
Whatever the case may be with Buchanan, he has all the time in the world to get consistent snaps again. We’re only three weeks into the 2026 campaign.
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