The Ravens defense is a tricky one to rank. In the offseason they let Matt Judon depart in free agency; he's been their best pass rusher the last few seasons. Is a big decline in order?
Looking at the numbers, odds are they'll be able to withstand that departure. Pass rush hasn't really been key to what they've been doing defensively. They thrive because of takeaways. Those numbers are often aided by pass rush, but Baltimore has managed to be one of the league's very best defenses for takeaways even while being only slightly above average in sacks.
Over the last five years, Baltimore hasn't ranked in the top 10 in sacks in any of those seasons (14th, 21st, 11th, 11th, and 24th). And yet they've ranked in the top 10 in takeaways in all but one of those years, including 10th and 7th the last two years. Over that five-year period, only Kansas City and New England have more takeaways than Baltimore.
TEAM TAKEAWAYS, 2016-2020 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Total |
Kansas City | 33 | 26 | 27 | 23 | 22 | 131 |
New England | 23 | 18 | 28 | 36 | 22 | 127 |
Baltimore | 28 | 34 | 17 | 25 | 22 | 126 |
Pittsburgh | 23 | 22 | 15 | 38 | 27 | 125 |
Tampa Bay | 29 | 26 | 17 | 28 | 25 | 125 |
Seattle | 19 | 25 | 26 | 32 | 22 | 124 |
LA Rams | 18 | 28 | 30 | 24 | 22 | 122 |
Buffalo | 18 | 25 | 27 | 23 | 26 | 119 |
Minnesota | 27 | 19 | 20 | 31 | 22 | 119 |
New Orleans | 21 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 26 | 119 |
Washington | 20 | 23 | 26 | 22 | 23 | 114 |
Carolina | 27 | 21 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 113 |
Miami | 25 | 15 | 28 | 16 | 29 | 113 |
Philadelphia | 26 | 31 | 17 | 20 | 19 | 113 |
Indianapolis | 17 | 20 | 26 | 23 | 25 | 111 |
LA Chargers | 28 | 27 | 20 | 14 | 19 | 108 |
Chicago | 11 | 22 | 36 | 19 | 18 | 106 |
Green Bay | 25 | 22 | 15 | 24 | 18 | 104 |
Arizona | 28 | 21 | 16 | 17 | 21 | 103 |
Denver | 27 | 17 | 27 | 16 | 16 | 103 |
NY Giants | 25 | 19 | 21 | 16 | 22 | 103 |
Tennessee | 18 | 21 | 17 | 23 | 23 | 102 |
Dallas | 20 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 23 | 101 |
Jacksonville | 13 | 33 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 99 |
Atlanta | 22 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 98 |
Cleveland | 13 | 13 | 31 | 20 | 21 | 98 |
San Francisco | 20 | 20 | 7 | 27 | 20 | 94 |
Houston | 17 | 16 | 29 | 22 | 9 | 93 |
NY Jets | 12 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 19 | 92 |
Las Vegas | 30 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 91 |
Detroit | 14 | 32 | 14 | 18 | 12 | 90 |
Cincinnati | 20 | 14 | 18 | 16 | 17 | 85 |
Baltimore used a first-rounder on Penn State pass rusher Jayson Oweh. He should help cover for the loss of Judon, and maybe provide the disruption the rest of the defense needs to continue racking up takeaways, most notably Marcus Peters (pictured). I don't think Baltimore will be a top-5 fantasy defense, but they're going to be in my top 10 again in 2021.
--Andy Richardson