ExtremeRavens Posted 23 hours ago Posted 23 hours ago Here’s what The Baltimore Sun sports staff had to say immediately after the Ravens traded away edge rusher Odafe Oweh and a 2027 seventh-round pick for Chargers safety Alohi Gilman and a 2026 fifth-round pick. Brian Wacker, reporter: Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday that a lot of decisions had to be made and he was right. Baltimore’s defense has been atrocious this season and as good as Oweh was at times in 2024, he wasn’t having near the same impact this year with zero sacks through five games and ranking 33rd in pressure rate, according to TruMedia. Consequently, the Ravens’ pass rush was practically nonexistent, with only the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers generating fewer sacks than Baltimore’s six. Gilman’s addition, meanwhile, provides experience to a banged-up secondary that badly needed it after the Ravens were forced to start five rookies on defense, including two at safety, in Sunday’s loss to the Texans. Primarily a free safety for the Chargers, he had a career-high 73 tackles in 2023 and has five career interceptions along with 21 career pass breakups. Also, by dealing Oweh, who was in the final year of his contract and was unlikely to be re-signed in the offseason, the Ravens saved about $8 million in cap space, clearing up room to make another move or two in what could be a busy next few weeks for general manager Eric DeCosta. Sam Cohn, reporter: Have to think this is an initial move in a larger plan for DeCosta. Oweh was Baltimore’s second most productive edge rusher last year. He’s largely been a disappointment through five weeks, still chasing his first sack (though he leads the team in pressures). Oweh bulked up this offseason. It hasn’t translated to the field in a noticeably measurable way for the former first-round pick. And something had to be done about this defense. They couldn’t go another week without addressing personnel. DeCosta got a solid return in safety Alohi Gilman and a 2026 fifth-round pick. But surely there’s more to be done here, having freed up about $8 million in cap space. Baltimore has a league-worst defense. As John Harbaugh said on Monday, “everything’s on the table.” Mike Preston, columnist: The Ravens traded Oweh on Tuesday, and that might touch off a few more trades for the Ravens within the next couple of weeks. The Ravens are in a desperate situation and they need some new blood, especially on defense. The Ravens are 1-4, and could use some better personnel, especially a pass rusher. Oweh, a first-round pick in 2021, has done very little this season despite it being a contract year and him vying for a contract extension. He hasn’t produced a sack and has only 10 tackles in the first five games despite being in the final year of a contract worth $13.25 million. With the deal, the Ravens are expected to save $8 million and maybe that can be used to find a cheap pass rusher. Oweh had a career high 10 sacks last season, but that in itself was misleading because most of them came against poor teams with poor offensive tackles. He has never lived up to expectations, and it was a mystery why the Ravens drafted him in the first round despite him not registering a sack in his last season at Penn State. Look for the Ravens to make a couple of more deals involving other players like receiver Rashod Bateman or outside linebacker David Ojabo. The best thing about the deal is that it allows safety Kyle Hamilton to play up near the line of scrimmage because he might be the best tackler on the team, and he is one of their best pass rushers. Josh Tolentino, columnist: The Ravens finally pulled the plug on another high-capital draft pick that ultimately failed to meet expectations. Oweh, already a questionable selection at the time in 2021 after he failed to record a single sack during his senior season at Penn State, never delivered on the promise of his first-round draft status. He showed flashes, but struggled to generate consistent pressure and defend the run. Despite playing in a contract year, Oweh has yet to record his first sack of the season. A fifth-year veteran, Oweh declined to speak to reporters following the team’s recent road loss at Kansas City, leaving his younger teammates and even undrafted rookies rookies to answer for the defense’s season-long struggles. Bennett Conlin, editor: Adding Gilman, a former Navy standout with more than 2,900 defensive snaps played in the NFL, improves an injury-riddled secondary. The rookie safety tandem of Malaki Starks and Reuben Lowery III wasn’t up to par in the ugly loss to the Texans, so the Ravens signed C.J. Gardner-Johnson and traded for Gilman. The additions should allow Baltimore to move Kyle Hamilton around, including playing him closer to the line of scrimmage to mask the team’s weaknesses at linebacker. That’s nice. But I’m skeptical of DeCosta’s plan. Oweh underachieved this season (no sacks) and he’s largely underachieved in the NFL since being a first-round pick in 2021, but he did have 10 sacks in 2024 and is a serviceable defensive end who led Baltimore in pressures this season. The Ravens’ edge grouping of Kyle Van Noy, Tavius Robinson and Mike Green leaves a lot to be desired, as does the interior of the defensive line with Nnamdi Madubuike sidelined. DeCosta probably needs to make another move or two along the defensive front by the time the Ravens come out of their Week 7 bye, and it’s easier said than done to trade for high-level edge rushers. Is there a realistic path forward for this defense under coordinator Zach Orr, or is this the start of a desperate attempt to salvage a spiraling season? Tim Schwartz, editor: The Ravens’ six sacks are among the fewest in the league, and yet they still decided to trade their most productive edge rusher this season. That should say a lot about how the coaching staff feels about Oweh, a former first-round draft pick. He was set to become a free agent after the season and was overpaid for his current production, so turning that into a serviceable piece to help in the defensive backfield, another area in which Baltimore has struggled this year, seems like a good move. Alohi Gilman has been up and down throughout his career with the Chargers, but he can’t be any worse than what the Ravens have shown through the first five weeks this season. Oweh always had the talent and could prove to be a valuable piece for the playoff-bound Chargers, but he wasn’t getting it done in Baltimore. Time to move on. Good move. Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Tim Schwartz at timschwartz@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/timschwartz13. 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