OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Ravens outside linebacker David Ojabo will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a partially torn ACL, head coach John Harbaugh announced Nov. 27.
It’s the latest setback for the 2022 second-round draft pick who figured prominently in the Ravens’ plans for this season. Instead, Ojabo’s season ends after three games, and he has played in just five of 34 games during his first two NFL seasons.
Harbaugh said Ojabo will point toward being fully ready for training camp in 2024.
The Ravens drafted Ojabo, 23, in the second round out of Michigan after he thrived in the Wolverines’ system under current Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. Ojabo was viewed as a potential top-15 overall pick before he tore his Achilles at his Michigan Pro Day about five weeks before the draft. That sent Ojabo’s stuck tumbling, but the Ravens pounced with Ojabo still available at No. 45 overall.
Ojabo missed nearly all of last season while rehabbing from that injury. He appeared in two late-season games, totaling one tackle, a strip-sack of Joe Burrow in the regular-season finale.
This summer, Ojabo was healthy again and viewed as one of the Ravens’ top edge-rushers, expected to bookend the defensive front with former Blair Academy high school teammate Odafe Oweh. But Ojabo played in just three games before being placed on injured reserve with a knee injury.
Oweh also missed four games this year with an ankle injury, and Tyus Bowser has been sidelined all season by a knee injury. With those players hobbled, the Ravens turned to veteran free-agent signings Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, both of whom have become key cogs of the Ravens’ No. 2-ranked defense.
Clowney (7.5) and Van Noy (6) rank second and third, respectively, for a team that leads the league with 47 sacks.
Ojabo, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Scotland, missed out on the chance to play in London when the Ravens faced Tennessee in October. At the time, Ojabo told reporters he was hoping to return this season.
But meeting with the media as the team began its bye week, Harbaugh said that Ojabo instead opted for season-ending surgery.
“He had to make a decision about it in terms of whether to risk it or not,” Harbaugh said. “Every medical expert said to get it fixed. … He wanted to play. Even I told him, I said, ‘Man, you have to get that right for the rest of your career, because it’s a clean type of a surgery.’ He’ll be rolling again at training camp at the latest.”
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