Mike Preston: Like Peyton Manning, Ravens' Lamar Jackson needs pass rushers

Mike Preston, Baltimore Sun on Feb 17, 2025

Published in Football

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BALTIMORE — The careers of Indianapolis Colts great Peyton Manning and current Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson have a lot of similarities, but there is one glaring difference.

It’s not what you think.

Manning never had Jackson’s mobility and Jackson doesn’t have Manning’s accuracy, but the Pro Football Hall of Famer had two great outside linebackers/defensive ends in Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. The Ravens don’t have anyone in that class.

So as the Ravens gear up for free agency and the annual NFL draft in late April, they should make it a priority to find quality pass rushers.

After seven NFL seasons, both Manning and Jackson had won multiple NFL Most Valuable Player Awards, but they each shared 3-6 postseason records. Both had high-octane offenses, and the Ravens have done a good job of surrounding Jackson with talent in running back Derrick Henry, tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely and receivers Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman.

But while teams were trying to keep pace with Manning’s offense, Indianapolis would turn loose both Freeney and Mathis on the outside during the majority of Manning’s time with the Colts from 1998 to 2010.

Freeney, a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, played for the Colts from 2002 to 2012 and finished as the team’s all-time sack leader with 107 1/2. Mathis played in Indianapolis from 2003 to 2017 and replaced Freeney at the top of the Colts’ sack chart with 123.

The Ravens have a projected 11 picks in the 2025 draft, so they have some wiggle room. They can become really creative and add some spice by trading up to select Penn State outside linebacker Abdul Carter, who might be the best player in college football. A move like that would go against the Ravens’ tradition of sticking with their picks or trading down to acquire more selections, but it would at least signal to fans the team’s willingness to gamble in an attempt to win a championship.

One thing is certain: the slow death routine every year in Baltimore has gotten old.

Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr. or Georgia’s Mykel Williams might go earlier than the Ravens’ 27th overall pick, but Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart or Marshall’s Mike Green might be available.

Regardless, the Ravens need strong pass rushers around for another four years to complement Jackson. If he stays healthy, the Ravens are going to score points. At the end of last season, they ranked No. 1 in total offense, averaging 424.4 yards per game, No. 1 in rushing (187.6 yards) and seventh in passing (237.4).

That’s about as balanced as any team in the NFL.

On the other side of the ball, they were 10th in total defense (342.2 yards allowed per game) with a No. 1 ranking against the run (80.1) but 31st against the pass (244.1). If a team wants to improve its pass defense, then add pass rushers.

It’s not hard to figure out.

The Ravens got decent and consistent pressure last season from outside linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Odafe Oweh, but both were no-shows in big games against tough teams like Philadelphia in the regular season or Buffalo in the playoffs.

Van Noy finished with 12 1/2 sacks but had no tackles against the Eagles in a 24-19 loss on Dec. 1. In that same game, Oweh, who recorded a career-high 10 sacks, had only one tackle. In the Ravens’ 27-25 divisional-round loss to the Bills, Van Noy finished with three tackles, including a half-sack, while Oweh had just one tackle. David Ojabo, a second-round pick out of Michigan in 2022, isn’t even in the discussion.

The Ravens have already created some recent buzz with the additions of assistant coaches Chuck Pagano (secondary) and Tyler Santucci (linebackers). It was clearly evident that something had to be done. The linebackers were slow in coverage, and the secondary looked almost as lost at the end of the season as they did at the beginning.

Now is the time to stir more emotion. Go ahead, make the move. Trade up and get Carter if he merits that type of attention, but come away with a quality pass rusher or two.

Freeney was a first-round selection taken in 2002 while Mathis was chosen in the fifth round in 2003. Philadelphia proved what a difference a pass rush could make by sacking Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes six times in Super Bowl 59.

If that doesn’t satisfy the Ravens’ front office staff, then they can go ask Jackson. The Eagles sacked him three times and pressured him on six other occasions earlier this season.

Case closed.