Ravens sixth-round rookie Aeneas Peebles checked in at 282 pounds and a shade taller than 6 feet at the NFL Scouting Combine, considered undersized for a defensive tackle.
“I didn’t know I was undersized until I guess the NFL Draft process,” Peebles joked on Glenn Clark Radio May 12. “I really never thought about it until I guess this whole draft process started. I just always felt at home being on the football field. I never felt like I was too small to play the game. I still don’t think that way now because there are no rulers and there are no measuring sticks on that football field. It’s just pads and what you’ve got between your [ears].”
Peebles played for Duke from 2020-2023, then spent his final year at Virginia Tech in 2024. The defensive tackle totaled 118 tackles and 11.5 sacks during his five-year college career. Most recently, Peebles posted 31 tackles and 3.0 sacks at Tech with high-end pass-rush metrics to boot.
As the Eagles showed this past season with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, a quality interior pass rush is a difference-maker. Peebles is hoping to help the Ravens in that department.
“In the older days you’re more used to seeing the premier pass rush guys be edge defenders — guys like Von Miller and Chandler Jones and those kinds of guys,” Peebles said. “You’re more used to those guys being the primary pass rushers. As we see with the current success of the Eagles and their interior pass rush, the game is just changing. You’ve got to be able to create pressure on the inside and thankfully that’s one of the things I pride my game [on], being able to get to the quarterback.”
The Ravens have had success drafting late-round defensive linemen in the past, like Broderick Washington Jr. (fifth round, 2020), Zach Sieler (seventh round, 2018), Matthew Judon (fifth round, 2016) and Za’Darius Smith (fourth round, 2015). Peebles hopes to join that list of success stories and knows the Ravens will provide the resources for him to accomplish that.
“With Baltimore’s history of the lower-round picks and what they’ve done with undrafted guys, it just really speaks to Eric DeCosta and that whole program and the Baltimore Ravens’ whole culture,” Peebles said. “They just know what they’re doing. They’re not just making picks just to make picks. They have a plan for their guys. I’m just thankful to be a part of a program that I think has a plan for me.”
Peebles played baseball, basketball and football growing up, joking that baseball might have been his path if pitchers didn’t throw curveballs. However, he eventually followed the footsteps of his grandfather Doug Wilkerson, who played in the NFL from 1970-1984.
Peebles was a consensus three-star recruit out of Raleigh, N.C., and Knightdale High School. Former Duke head coach David Cutcliffe and former defensive line coach Ben Albert noticed him at a camp, leading to him to Durham. Mike Elko took over for Cutcliffe at Duke following the 2021 season and left after the 2023 season, so Peebles hit the transfer portal and spent his final year at Virginia Tech.
“I fell in love with Virginia Tech as soon as I heard ‘Enter Sandman,'” Peebles said.
The defensive tackle wore Ravens gear for the first time during rookie minicamp in early May after being drafted in the sixth round.
“Every time I pick up a new jersey, it feels like an end and a start. That’s the best way to describe it,” Peebles said. “When I had that Ravens jersey in my hand, it was just like, ‘This is the beginning of something new,’ but now it doesn’t matter what I did in college anymore. Being in college and doing whatever I did, the accolades I had, has no bearing on what I do going forward. It’s a sad but also happy moment to know I’m elevating to the next level, but I also get a fresh slate to start.”
For more from Peebles, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Virginia Tech Athletics