The Ravens saw their leading edge rusher depart in free agency this offseason when Jadeveon Clowney signed with the Panthers. While the team did work to retain other top sack-getters in Justin Madubuike and Kyle Van Noy, it decided to depend on recent draft capital to replace the production lost in Clowney’s departure. Unfortunately, one of those recent draft picks is still working to get healthy as head coach John Harbaugh announced that outside linebacker David Ojabo was not cleared to play in last night’s preseason game, per Jamison Hensley of EPSN.
A second-round pick in 2022, Ojabo was a draft selection that Baltimore knew would take some time to see the field after suffering a torn Achilles at his Michigan pro day. Starting his rookie season on injured reserve, Ojabo didn’t make his NFL debut until Week 15. He only played five snaps and didn’t appear again until the season finale, which saw him collect his first NFL sack.
In 2023, Ojabo got a sack in the season opener and earned his first start in Week 3. Unfortunately, Ojabo would suffer a season ending knee/ankle injury in that first start, ending his sophomore campaign after only three games. It’s hard to say whether or not Baltimore has a grasp on Ojabo’s status. They expressed hope he would come back last season and, after he failed to do so, they expressed hope that he would be cleared in time for training camp. Neither happened, and now the Ravens find themselves continuing to wait for a healthy Ojabo.
In the meantime, the Ravens will look to a pair of Penn State-products to make up for Ojabo’s lost snaps. Former first-round pick Odafe Oweh has yet to see his season-sack total eclipse five in a season, but his ability to consistently create pressure has hopes high for a breakout season. Rookie third-rounder Adisa Isaac will follow his fellow Nittany Lion’s example. After spending a good amount of training camp on the non-football injury list dealing with a hamstring injury, Isaac was activated in time for the team’s first preseason game.
Here are a few other injury updates from around the AFC:
- The Steelers preseason plans hit a slight setback when first-round rookie tackle Troy Fautanu suffered an MCL sprain in last night’s preseason opener, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The injury is a minor one, and Pittsburgh does not consider it serious, but with Fautanu competing with Dan Moore for the team’s starting right tackle job, any missed time is going to be crucial in…