Prior to the 2021 NFL draft, knowing edge rusher was one of the Ravens biggest needs, I made a big board of who I thought were the top nine edge rushers to be had. With two first round picks after the trade of Orlando Brown Jr. to the Chiefs, it was a near lock the position would be addressed at pick 27, or 31. After three articles, highlighting three players each, I put together my rankings, which included the Ravens eventual 31st overall pick, Odafe Oweh.
Now, I’ll go back to those rankings and see how these nine men panned out in their rookie campaign, with special attention paid to Oweh for us Ravens fans.
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1. Kwity Paye, Michigan – 2nd edge rusher drafted. 21st overall, Indianapolis Colts.
Day one starter. Started 14 games recording four sacks, 10 quarterback hits and a forced fumble. PFF All-Rookie team selection. Expected to be a staple on their defense for a while.
2. Jaelan Phillips, Miami (FL) – 1st edge rusher drafted. 18th overall, Miami Dolphins.
Day one starter. Only 1.5 sacks through the first eight games of the season. Miami’s defense had a resurgence in the second half of 2021, where Phillips recorded seven sacks in a five-game stretch. But then disappeared for the last month of the season. PFF graded him below average as a run defender. Played limited snaps against run heavy opponents. Finished with 10 sacks and 39 pressures.
3. Azeez Ojulari, Georgia – 6th edge rusher drafted, 2nd round, New York Giants.
Ojulari made 13 starts, played in all 17 games. Recorded sacks in his first three NFL games. Broke Lawrence Taylor’s Giants rookie record for sacks with 10. Generated 42 pressures, 30 run stops, and forced a fumble. Arguably the lone bright spot on a disaster of a team who is searching for a new GM and head coach.
4. Zaven Collins, Tulsa – Hybrid turned middle linebacker, 16th overall, Arizona Cardinals.
Was supposed to be the starting Mike Linebacker, but never did unseat veteran Jordan Hicks for the job. Snap counts dwindled as the year went on, only had one game since week 7 where he played over 10 defensive snaps until being moved to outside linebacker in week 17. Where he was also limited on snaps and made no impact. Regular play on special teams. A very disappointing rookie campaign for a mid-first round pick.
5. Ronnie Perkins, Oklahoma – 12th edge rusher drafted, 3rd round (compensatory), New England Patriots.
Buried on the Patriots depth chart behind Matt Judon, the versatile veteran Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, Josh Uche, and Chase Winovich. Did not dress for a game this season, sent to IR on December 16th. Only Collins in the group isn’t under contract for 2022. Perkins will be in a fight for a roster spot in 2022. Perkins’ college film stood out to me by how often he was a disruption in the backfield versus his counterparts on this list.
For the Ravens, I’d make Perkins a trade target with Justin Houston not under contract, and Tyus Bowser having a torn Achilles. That injury will certainly sideline him all summer, into camp, and that will make Bowser a big-time question mark for the start of the regular season. He probably starts on PUP. Bowser is more of an off-ball linebacker anyway, rather than a hand in the dirt pass rusher.
6. Odafe Oweh, Penn State – 4th edge rusher drafted, 31st overall, Baltimore Ravens.
If you don’t count Dallas’ hybrid linebacker and Oweh’s former Nittany Lion teammate, Micha Parsons, Oweh led all rookie edge rushers with 49 pressures on the season, as well as three forced fumbles. Impressive amount of pressure from a rookie who was also sidelined the last two games of the season with a foot injury. If I’m picking nits, Oweh couldn’t finish often, notching just five sacks with all that pressure. You could say whole games would go by without hearing his name called once. After three sacks in the first five games, he only had two more the rest of the year. In a three-game stretch from week 13-15, he only notched two pressures and no QB hits. As athletic as he is, the rookie wall may have been a factor.
Terrell Suggs posted a stellar rookie year, in 2003 with 12 sacks and five forced fumbles. Snubbed in the Pro Bowl voting, he got there in 2004 with 10.5 sacks. Asking Oweh to reach double digit sacks in 2022 shouldn’t be a big ask if he plays the full season.
But we have seen flashes of the potential. The athleticism is as advertised. He has multiple moves in his arsenal to try to shed blocks. He’s a starter, and as a first-round pick, expected to grow into a Pro Bowl caliber player. I’m excited for what 2022 could bring for the young man. He’s already my leading candidate for breakout star on this team next season.
Quite frankly, I want to see him be the next guy that the AFC North division rivals love to hate.
Oweh, and Kwity Paye, earned the top two “Edge” spots on PFF’s All-Rookie team.
7. Gregory Rousseau, Miami (FL) – 3rd edge rusher drafted, 30th overall, Buffalo Bills.
Rousseau had a slow start to his rookie season, but played over 500 snaps, and got better as the season went along. He played almost an equal amount of running plays and passing plays and notched more run stops (38) than pressures (30). Six of those run stops came in the Wild Card game, but 32 regular season stops were easily tops among the rookie edge class and tied for most in the league at his position.
8. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Washington – 5th edge rusher drafted, 32nd overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kind of crazy that my 6th, 7th, 8th ranked guys were the 3rd, 4th, and 5th edge rushers drafted, and 30th, 31st, and 32nd overall players taken.
Tryon-Shoyinka didn’t get regular playing time behind Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul, until Pierre-Paul suffered an injury in week 3. In his second start, the Husky notched a pair of sacks on Mac Jones. He was average as a pass rusher but didn’t show well in run defense. He’s contributing, but not to the level of Paye, Oweh, Ojulari, and the like.
9. Carlos “Boogie” Basham, Wake Forest – 8th edge rusher drafted, 2nd round, Buffalo Bills.
Only appeared in eight games scattered across the 2021 season. Failed to register a single pressure in half of those games amounting to 33 pass rush assignments.
The Bills doubled up on edge rushers taking two with their first two picks of the 2021 draft.
In summary, one year is always too early to grade a draft class. For all we know the Patriots catch an injury situation like the Ravens just had and Ronnie Perkins is thrust into a starters role, and beats the brakes off opposing blockers. Anything can happen in this game. That said, here are my pre-draft, and re-draft rankings. Hats off to Odafe Oweh, who I ranked three places higher in a re-draft than my pre-draft rankings. Largest disparity on my list. I broke my own rule and put too much stock in college stats, where Oweh posted zero sacks in his last year at Penn State. Dropping him down my Pre-Draft ranking.
Would I have preferred Ojulari on draft night? I believe I did. Was I shocked to see Ronnie Perkins, mocked to go in the first round at times, still available when the Ravens went on the clock late in round three? You bet. (Baltimore took Ben Cleveland there, and Perkins went two picks later).
Am I happy today the Ravens drafted Oweh? Early signs point to yes. Solid rookie season. Has to build on that going forward.
Ravens Analyst
Mike was born on the Eastern Shore, raised in Finksburg, and currently resides in Parkville. In 2009, Mike graduated from the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland. Mike became a Baltimore City Fire Fighter in late 2010. Mike has appeared as a guest on Q1370, and FOX45. Now a Sr. Ravens Analyst for BSL, he can be reached at mike.randall@baltimoresportsandlife.com.