If you want to understand the struggles of the ever-improving Baltimore Ravens defense this season, it can be summed up in rookie edge rusher Mike Green.
Green has become emblematic of the Ravens’ resurgence. They’ve won 5 consecutive wins to improve their record to 6-5 overall headed into a critical Thanksgiving Day game against their AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals in Week 13.
“With his sack in Week 12, Mike Green became the Ravens’ sack leader with 2.5 sacks,” Locked on Ravens podcast host Kevin Oestricher wrote on his official X account on Wednesday, November 26. “Baltimore’s previous sack leader was Nnamdi Madubuike with 2.0 sacks, who hasn’t played since Week 2.”
While Cleveland Browns inside linebacker Carson Schwesinger — a second round pick just like Green — is the odds-on favorite across the board to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, we can make an argument Green is just 2-3 sacks from earning a spot on the All-Rookie Team.
“Mike Green‘s college body was already causing problems for NFL linemen,” Ivan Evans wrote on his official X account. “He had 5 pressures & a sack against the Jets. Wait ’til you see what he does with a full offseason … ”
Ravens Rolled the Dice Drafting Green
The problems for the Ravens defense truly began when Madubuike went down with a season ending neck injury in Week 2. That took one of the NFL’s singularly dominant interior defensive linemen out of the lineup.
Much if not all of Baltimore’s approach on its defensive front was built around Madubuike’s unique skill set, but without that in the mix they seemed lost on the way to a 1-5 start.
Green led the nation with 17.0 sacks in 2024 at Marshall and ended up dropping to the Ravens, where he’s really started to thrive since the team added edge rusher Dre’Mont Jones in a trade with the Tennessee Titans on November 3.
Green, 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, was a risky second round pick (No. 59 overall) after off-field issues knocked him out of the first round — he was accused of sexual assault in high school and again at the University of Virginia.
Green has denied all allegations against him.
“There’s accusations out there. I’ve never been questioned,” Green told Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams before the 2025 NFL draft. “I’ve never been asked. Nobody ever asked me a question about what happened before I departed from Virginia. It was just accusations that caused me to leave.”
Green Projected as ‘Breakout Star’ for Ravens
If Green can establish himself as Baltimore’s top edge rusher it would represent an incredible savings for the franchise. He’s playing on a 4-year, $7.4 million rookie contract and won’t even sniff his first raise until at least 2028 but more likely 2029.
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox thinks Green could be the “Breakout Star” for the Ravens down the stretch.
“The Baltimore Ravens defense struggled mightily early in the season, but it has played far better in the three games since the bye,” Knox wrote on November 13. “So has rookie pass-rusher Mike Green, who has logged 1.5 sacks, two tackles for loss and five quarterback hits in that span. If Baltimore’s defense continues to ascend — and the Ravens climb back into the playoff mix — Green will have a chance to emerge as a defensive star.”
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