Odafe Oweh saved observe.
As the boiling afternoon practices rolled on, he crashed into the Ravens backfield so usually that he may have been charged property tax. But he couldn’t hit the quarterback, so what did he have to indicate for it? As they jawed forwards and backwards, Lamar Jackson mentioned he would have evaded Oweh’s strain underneath recreation circumstances. The second-year outdoors linebacker disagreed, so he tallied the sacks in his thoughts — an unofficial file of his coaching camp dominance.
“I got those ones,” he mentioned, a smile creeping onto his usually taciturn face.
Statistical file or no, Ravens coaches and teammates couldn’t miss Oweh this summer season as he ready for the breakout season he they usually anticipate.
“My expectation for Odafe is to be a dominant player,” first-year defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald mentioned. “I think that’s the vision that he has for himself, and he should be a guy that, when we need him, he can get to the quarterback. I think he would tell you the same thing.”
Much hinges on Oweh reaching the potential he demonstrated in flashes final season and extra constantly in coaching camp this 12 months. The Ravens, a franchise constructed on Hall of Fame defensive expertise, haven’t drafted a Pro Bowl defender since cornerback Marlon Humphrey in 2017. You may argue they haven’t drafted and developed an elite move rusher since Terrell Suggs (although Za’Darius Smith hit that degree briefly after he departed Baltimore to affix the Green Bay Packers).
The Ravens desperately want the participant Oweh may grow to be. Sacks aren’t the be-all, end-all for judging a group’s capability to harass the quarterback, however they haven’t had a participant attain double digits since Suggs in 2017. They completed tied for twenty second in sacks and twenty fourth in strain fee final season regardless of rating sixth in blitz fee.
Every veteran who lays eyes on Oweh appears to say the identical factor: His “freakish” mix of bodily capability and eagerness to study may make him the following one to hold the Ravens’ defensive legacy ahead. It’s not a burden the 23-year-old backs away from. He posts his objectives — personal however lofty — on the wall of his dwelling so he sees them daily.
“It’s going to be a crazy jump,” he mentioned, utilizing his favourite adjective to explain the years forward. “And I’m ready.”
The Ravens didn’t know precisely what they’d after they used their second first-round choose of 2021 on an edge rusher from Penn State who had not performed a snap of soccer till his junior 12 months of highschool at New Jersey’s Blair Academy. They knew the story informed by stopwatches: a 6-foot-5, 257-pound man protecting 40 yards in an absurd 4.36 seconds. They additionally knew the statistic bandied about by Oweh’s detractors: zero sacks in his final 12 months with the Nittany Lions.
Was he a revolutionary athlete at his place or a lump of uncooked materials whose items would by no means translate to significant manufacturing?
No one grasped this narrative higher than the man on the middle of it. “I feel like that’s the intrigue about me,” Oweh informed reporters at his introductory information convention in Baltimore.
The concept of Oweh as an empty exercise marvel went out the window shortly. His strip and restoration towards Kansas City Chiefs operating again Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the signature defensive play within the Ravens’ most important victory of 2021. Two video games into his NFL profession, he was AFC Defensive Player of the Week. He would go on to steer the group in pressured fumbles and end second in sacks and quarterback hits.
And there was the best way he carried himself, with a lethal severe expression that prompt he had no real interest in losing time. A sly humorousness peeked out, however this was not a man who was going to goof away his alternative.
Oweh didn’t put his mark on each recreation of his rookie season. He was banged up by the tip, lacking the final two video games with a foot damage and going underneath a surgeon’s knife on the finish of January for repairs to his shoulder.
When he reviewed his efficiency on movie, he was pleased with the hassle, the best way he tried a second transfer and a 3rd if his first was stymied. But he additionally noticed a “jittery” novice desirous to make any play as a substitute of ready to make the correct one.
He transitioned from Year 1 to Year 2 figuring out that he had established his place however believing he may grow to be way more.
“When I got here, he said, ‘Coach, I want to be the best,’” recalled outdoors linebackers coach Rob Leonard, who joined the Ravens this 12 months. “So when a player tells you that, it’s pretty easy.”
For Oweh meaning making the opponent really feel him each sequence, not simply right here and there. He has lived as much as that purpose this summer season, along with his teammates bearing the brunt of his observe fury. No one fingers out Defensive Player of Training Camp trophies, but when they did, the selection in Baltimore wouldn’t be tough.
As Oweh analyzed his kind, he famous that his legs are stronger. He and Leonard have additionally mentioned how his fingers have to be as busy as his ft. At the identical time, he mentioned his progress is extra a results of calming down than firing up.
“I’m not necessarily trying to jump out of gaps and try to force plays,” he mentioned. “[I’m] being patient. And obviously, in pass rushing, being more calm, reading everything, taking what I see, bending the edge, and all the stuff like that. So, you’ll see a different Odafe this year, for sure.”
His eagerness for brand spanking new views extends throughout the road of scrimmage.
“I think the biggest thing is that he knows he doesn’t know it all, and he’s not afraid to ask,” mentioned proper sort out Morgan Moses, a nine-year veteran. “And so, there are times when we’re on the field, and we’ll literally stop in the middle of the play, and we’re talking about things, because he wants to know, ‘Why did you set me like this?’ And any time you get a guy like that, the sky is the limit.”
By the tip of this season, Ravens opponents may very well be fleeing from not one however two precocious edge rushers. Oweh and 2022 second-round choose David Ojabo share greater than lengthy frames and fast ft. They bonded as highschool teammates who shared Nigerian roots and a way that this unfamiliar recreation may very well be their ticket to prosperity. Oweh will purpose to take a head begin whereas Ojabo continues to get well from a torn Achilles tendon that knocked him out of the primary spherical of the draft.
“It’s going to be crazy,” Oweh mentioned.
Week 1
RAVENS@JETS
Sunday, Sept. 11, 1 p.m.
TV: Chs. 13, 9
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com