He wasn’t getting sacks, nor living up to his billing as a first-round pick in the NFL draft, but Odafe Oweh was still “shocked” at being traded by the Baltimore Ravens to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Oweh and a 2026 NFL draft seventh-round selection were sent to the AFC West on Tuesday, October 8, in exchange for safety Alohi Gilman and a fifth-round pick in next year’s draft, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The timing of the deal caught Oweh off guard, according to ESPN’s Kris Rhim. Oweh “definitely didn’t think it was gonna happen before the bye.”
While he might not have seen it coming, Oweh still knew his time was up in Baltimore, “when he didn’t get an extension last yr,” per Rhim. That knowledge, coupled with the timing of this trade, has Oweh eager to prove a point to his old team.
As the sack-shy edge-rusher put it, “I was really trying to get an opportunity to be in a new system and prove what I can to people that are really trying to see that, so I have a little animosity on my back.”
It’s not difficult to read those words as a shot at the Ravens. Although it’s tougher to fathom why Oweh would feel the need to lash out when his production rarely rewarded the Ravens for their investment of premium draft capital, as well as their patience waiting for the outside linebacker to become a force.
Odafe Oweh Never Made the Grade
There were no shortage of chances for Oweh to emerge as a regular disruptor and leader of the Ravens’ pass rush. He had the value of experience by starting alongside two-time Super Bowl winner Kyle Van Noy, while schemes also helped, like when Mike Macdonald ran the defense in 2023 and unleashed a myriad of sophisticated pressure packages, ideal to help a versatile quarterback hunter thrive.
Yet, no matter what the Ravens did to position him for success, Oweh rarely delivered. Instead, he became an almost annual breakout candidate who flattered to deceive.
Not even his first and only season with double-digit sacks, in 2024, quieted trade chatter involving Oweh. The 31st player drafted in 2021 made a big change this offseason, but it did nothing to improve his fortunes.
Oweh was no longer and every down player, with The Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Shaffer revealing No. 99 was not being used against the run: “He was on the field for just 33 of the 136 designed rushes.”
That meant the Ravens were leaning on Oweh more to rush the passer, and although head coach John Harbaugh believes the 26-year-old “was playing well and rushing the passer effectively down the stretch,” per Shaffer, the numbers reveal otherwise.
Oweh didn’t register a sack through five games, but other underlying stats suggest the Ravens still took a risk by trading him.
Ravens Pass Rush Still Lacking
He wasn’t making a dent on the pass-pocket, but Oweh’s presence was a positive by association. At least according to Shaffer, who wrote in The Banner how “The Ravens don’t have a sack with Oweh off the field. Their pressure rate, meanwhile, fell from 33.9% to 19.8% when he was sidelined, according to SIS, though Oweh’s role as a situational pass rusher likely contributed to that divide.”
Numbers like those are yet another problem for a defense beset by issues, but chief among them remains the lack of heat on quarterbacks. Van Noy is still getting healthy after a hamstring injury, while the Ravens are waiting on two second-round picks, Mike Green and David Ojabo to get things right.
Perhaps Tavius Robinson, a potential centerpiece physically imposing enough to boss individual matchups, can emerge as a more consistent threat on the edge. It’s another gamble by a franchise becoming increasingly reliant on leaps of faith at a key position.
Hoping for the best didn’t work with Oweh, and it’s unlikely to work with Robinson and Co. Not unless under-pressure defensive coordinator Zach Orr gets more creative about designing and sending pressure.
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