OTL: Ravens DL Set for a Resurgence?

A season ago, the Baltimore Ravens posted a 4.58% sack percentage, the second-worst in football and a steep drop from their top 10 finishes in each of the three prior seasons.

Baltimore has long been known for its work in the trenches, but during its 8-9 season in 2025, the team seemed helpless rushing the passer.

The Ravens allowed the second-most passing yards per game in football at 247.9, much of which can be attributed to inefficiency on the interior defensive line.

Though help might be on the way.

Veteran defensive tackle D.J. Reader took physical today with #Ravens and is expected to sign with a team post-draft. Could be #Ravens, but other #NFL teams are in on Reader, too https://t.co/9aAXeIYI2j

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 26, 2026

The Ravens hosted veteran defensive tackle D.J. Reader for a visit late last week, many sources confirmed. The 31-year-old underwent a physical with the team and is expected to sign with an organization after the NFL Draft, per league beat reporter Aaron Wilson.

The Ravens are expected to lead the charge to sign Reader, who has been with the Detroit Lions for the past two seasons.

A fifth-round selection by the Houston Texans in 2016, Reader has appeared in 14 or more games in each of the past three seasons and four of the past five. Last year, he played 583 snaps, 313 of which were in the pass rush. He failed to record a sack in 2025, but notched three for Detroit in 2024.

Reader’s upside is derived more from his run defense and tackling ability.

The veteran is one of three defensive tackles to record two or fewer missed tackles in each of the past two seasons (min. 400 defensive snaps in each season). Pro Football Focus graded him the 22nd-best tackler at the position among 94 qualifying defensive tackles.

Reader also seemingly excels at facilitating production from his fellow pass rushers, soaking up offensive linemen while his teammates pursue the quarterback.

The Lions’ edge rushing duo of Aidan Hutchinson and Al-Quadin Muhammad recorded a combined 153 pressures last season, the second-most by a team’s starting edge rusher duo behind the Houston Texans’ Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. In 2024, three Lions defensive linemen—Alim McNeill, Levi Onwuzurike, and Josh Paschal—recorded career highs in pressures with Reader on the line.

The trend extends past his time with Detroit, as well.

In each of his final three seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he played alongside newly acquired Ravens edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, the team surpassed 225 combined defensive line pressures. Since he left in 2024, they haven’t done so once.

Reader’s numbers definitely won’t jump off the page, but his impact will. That impact was absent for the Ravens in 2025.

Former third-round pick Travis Jones led Baltimore in pressures last season with 47.

The next closest defensive tackle on the team? John Jenkins with 10.

Baltimore’s edge tandem of Mike Green, Kyle Van Noy, and Tavius Robinson all finishing with under 35 pressures did the team no favors, either.

Reader’s presence would immediately create more flexibility for a developing pass rush in Charm City. His familiarity playing alongside the team’s new face of the pass rush is an added bonus.

Should the Ravens add the veteran, the youngsters on the squad, Green and Robinson, would historically be well-positioned for a boost in production.

As it has shown in the past, a formidable interior defensive line does wonders for everyone on the defense.

With a healthy Nnamdi Madubuike in 2024, Baltimore boasted three players with more than 45 pressures, two more than they did in 2025. In 2023, Madubuike’s Pro-Bowl campaign, the team had four, including a 31-year-old Jadeveon Clowney.

A healthy Madubuike might be just what the doctor ordered in Baltimore, too.

ESPN’s Jamison Hensley reported on Saturday that the team has received “growing optimism” about a return from injury of its pressure leader in two of the past three seasons.

Madubuike, 28, appeared in just two games to open Baltimore’s season before going down with a season-ending neck injury.

With very little official information distributed from the team, many fans speculated that the former third-round pick’s career could come to a close.

However, after a social media post from the defensive tackle on Jan. 30 that read, “good news” with a prayer hands emoji and a recent promising update on his health, Madubuike seems bound to make his long-awaited return.

“Not having Nnamdi this year was a horrible situation for our team,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said in his end-of-season news conference.

Indeed, it was.

Without Madubuike, Baltimore had an uncharacteristically atrocious pass rush that finished 30th in team sacks (30) and 28th in team pass rush win rate (30%).

In just two games during the 2025 season, Madubuike finished with the far-and-away best pass rush win rate on the team at 20.3%. The next closest was the team’s deadline acquisition Dre’Mont Jones at 12.9%.

From the start of 2023 until he was placed on injured reserve in September 2025, Madubuike led all defensive tackles in sacks (21.5).

The Ravens sorely missed that constant disruption that he brings to the table.

That, however, is not to say the unit lacks good assets.

Jones, a former third-round selection from UConn, did notch a career-high 47 pressures and five sacks last year. He also graded out as PFF’s sixth-best defensive tackle in the league, largely due to his elite run-defending ability.

Jenkins, who re-signed with the team on a one-year deal before their season ended, acted as a serviceable rotational run defender, appearing in 523 defensive snaps for the team. He was also graded the 37th-best run defender at the position among 94 qualifying defensive tackles last year.

The talent is absolutely there.

But, production in the trenches is defined by how a unit plays together.

Control at the line of scrimmage is everything in a football game. With Madubuike absorbing double teams, Reader anchoring the gap control, and a superstar in Hendrickson coming off the edge, it appears Baltimore’s pass rush woes are in the rear-view mirror.

And, as it does around the league, efficient pass rush means better overall defense.

The Ravens finished top 10 in points per game allowed in both 2023 and 2024 with a healthy Madubuike. Poor pressure rates are ultimately what led to Baltimore’s catastrophic defensive breakdown over the course of last season.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel, though.

A resurgence from Baltimore’s once fearsome pass rush seems imminent.

Under the defensive scheme of new head coach Jesse Minter, Ravens Flock could see the unit’s transformation back into its 2023 form, which produced four Pro Bowlers and an AFC Championship appearance.

The post OTL: Ravens DL Set for a Resurgence? appeared first on Russell Street Report.