One of the top remaining needs for the Baltimore Ravens is at outside linebacker where youngsters Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo are poised to take big leaps in production in 2023 but they could use another established veteran at the position.
They’re doing their due diligence on some of the top available veteran edge defenders that fit their system ahead of the start of training camp. On Friday, July 21, they hosted two-time Super Bowl champion Kyle Van Noy for a visit according to a report from ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler.
Veteran free agent Kyle Van Noy is visiting the #Ravens, per source.
Van Noy, 32, has some pass-rush juice from the linebacker spot with at least five sacks in each of the last four seasons.
The team brought in the nine-year veteran on the same day they announced that returning six-year veteran outside linebacker Tyus Bowser was placed on the Non-Football Injury list. They were also scheduled to host veteran defensive end Dawuane Smoot early next week before he re-signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Friday.
Van Noy has been a bit of a journeyman during his career thus far having played for four different teams including the New England Patriots twice. He won a pair of Super Bowls a couple of years apart during his first stint with the Patriots after being originally drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft out of BYU and traded midway through the 2016 season.
He spent the 2022 season with the Los Angeles Chargers where he appeared in all 17 games and made 13 starts in which he recorded 46 total tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, 9 quarterback hits, a forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries, and 3 pass deflections according to Pro Football Reference.
Kyle Van Noy Provides Rare Schematic Flexibility
Finding players capable of playing the SAM outside linebacker spot at a high level in the Ravens’ hybrid 3-4 defense can be hard to come by. They need to possess a versatile skill set that allows them to be proficient when it comes to setting the edge, stuffing the run, rushing the passer, and dropping into coverage.
Van Noy has experience playing off the ball as well as on the edge in a similar role to the one he’d be asked to fill with the Ravens. Bowser is slated to continue being their starting SAM whenever he’s healthy enough to take the field but having a capable and proven depth that rotates and starts when called upon would still allow second-year defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to maintain the same level of schematic flexibility.
While he is a little long in the tooth at 32 years old, Van Noy has been a model of consistency from a production standpoint as a pass rusher having recorded five or more sacks in each of the last four seasons and five of the last six.
The Ravens haven’t had a pair of edge defenders that possess the ideal versatility to play SAM since Van Noy’s 2021 teammate with the Patriots, four-time Pro Bowler Matt Judon’s last year in Baltimore during the 2020 season.
Reunion With 2022 Sack Leader Still Shouldn’t Be Ruled Out
Even though the Ravens are exploring other veteran options on the free agent market and they added another hybrid edge defender in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft in Tavius Robinson, bringing back stalwart veteran Justin Houston remains a very real possibility.
The former four-time Pro Bowler led the team with 9.5 sacks last season at 33 years old and especially thrived once his snaps were reduced and he was deployed in a more specialized role in the second half of the season.
The veteran @JHouston50 just keeps getting it done 😤
📺: #BALvsCIN on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ t.co/hNJJJGqxGF
Mid-to-late July and early August is about the time of year that he has signed with the Ravens in each of the past two years but after a resurgent season, there might be more suitors for his services this time around. Back in March, general manager Eric DeCosta told reporters that if the team were to bring back Houston for a third time, it’d be “later in the offseason” according to BaltimoreRavens.com’s Ryan Mink.
Eric DeCosta expects that Justin Houston will probably sign later in the offseason like he has the past couple years. Likely not in the initial wave of free agency, after the draft.
Even at the age of 34, Houston likely still has plenty left in the tank for one more run at a Super Bowl title and it’d make sense to attempt it with the team and defensive unit that he’s been a part of and helped grow over the past couple seasons.
In other former Raven free agent news, three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters will be hosted by the Las Vegas Raiders for a visit and workout this upcoming week on Monday, July 24, 2023, according to a report from Rapoport. The renowned ball hawk visited his favorite childhood team earlier this year in the spring and was a fixture in the Baltimore secondary since being acquired via trade midway through the 2019 season.
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Ravens Host 2-Time Super-Winning Linebacker for Visit: Report