OTL: Roquan Smith Takes Home First Defensive Player of the Week Award

Entering his ninth season in the NFL, linebacker Roquan Smith has built quite a resume over the last few years. He’s a 5x All-Pro, 3x Pro Bowler, and the 2022 Butkus Award winner, and following his spectacular Week 2 performance, he’s now added AFC Defensive Player of the Week to his list of accolades.

The Ravens’ win over the Browns could be considered the best game of Roquan Smith’s career. Smith was all over the field Sunday, finishing the afternoon with 15 total tackles, three tackles for a loss, and a 63-yard scoop and score touchdown. According to the Baltimore Ravens Communications “X” page,  Roquan became the first Raven to take home the award since S Kyle Hamilton in Week 16 of 2023, and the first Ravens LB since Justin Houston in 2022.

Smith’s 91.9 Pro Football Focus grade ranked 6th out of all defensive players in Week 2, and 3rd out of all linebackers, trailing just Fred Warner (95.1) and Marte Mapu (92.9). It was the second-highest Pro Football Focus grade in Roquan’s career, sitting behind his Week 13 performance in 2022, where he recorded a 92.5.

The 3x Pro Bowler became the first player in the NFL since 2008 to record 15 tackles, three tackles for a loss, and a defensive touchdown, his first since 2023.

A pregame speech from Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis has swirled around social media this week. “Hunters hunt. They Hunt” were the first words out of Lewis’ mouth, and that’s all Smith needed to hear, because he was clearly hunting for all 60 minutes.

Ro @raylewis pic.twitter.com/VQqqeEP7uZ

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 15, 2025

The Ravens defense needed a hot start from Smith, as the team enters the season with Trenton Simpson and Teddye Buchanan alongside him, who both have a combined 833 career snaps to Roquan’s 7,227. Roquan’s leadership and physicality have been on full display through two games, as Smith holds a firm lead in tackles on the team with 25, with Hamilton sitting behind him with 14. Through two weeks, the 5x All-Pro ranks second in the NFL in tackles, trailing only Bobby Okereke of the Giants (26).

The Ravens defense has had it’s ups and downs through two weeks, but number zero has stood out time and time again, particularly in run defense.

In Sunday’s win over the Browns, Smith recorded five tackles within three yards of the line of scrimmage, while picking up two tackles for a loss in the process.

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