ExtremeRavens Posted 4 hours ago Posted 4 hours ago The initial plan was to possibly work rookies Teddye Buchanan, Mike Green and Malaki Starks into the starting lineup. Now, as the Ravens begin the second half of the 2025 season against the Vikings in Minnesota on Sunday, it’s to get all three through the proverbial wall. The wall is one part mental exhaustion, and the other physical fatigue. At some point, most rookies experience it as a result of them preparing and playing in their final college season. They start physical preparation in the summer and then go to some sort of bowl game, which is followed by the annual NFL scouting combine. Then once the draft is completed, they go to various minicamps in preparation for training camp. As their rookie season unfolds, some become complacent from either the mental or physical fatigue. Ravens coach John Harbaugh says that he hasn’t seen any of it in his trio of starters: Buchanan, a weakside linebacker, Green an edge rusher, or Starks, a safety and the team’s last line of defense. The observations, though, will continue in the team’s last nine games as the Ravens pursue a third straight AFC North title and a possible playoff bid. “I am not too worried about it. I think those guys are in great shape; very focused, determined guys who bring it every day,” Harbaugh said. “I see them continuing to ascend. All of those guys are getting better every day. You can see it in this last game as well. “So, I’m pretty confident. I’m very confident, actually, that those guys are going to keep improving and just be better players for us as the season goes on.” Harbaugh is correct, all three have improved. The most intriguing has been Buchanan, a fourth-round pick from the University of California. Coming out of college, some considered his arms too short to shed blockers and there were problems covering running backs and tight ends downfield. Those were clearly evident in training camp because Buchanan looked lost at times dropping into coverage. He still struggles in that area as well as middle linebacker Roquan Smith, but when weakside linebacker Trenton Simpson struggled early in the season, the Ravens didn’t hesitate replacing him with Buchanan. Even when Smith was sidelined for two games with hamstring problems, Buchanan became the starter in the middle. The rookie is the team’s leading tackler with 63, having played on 76% of the defensive snaps. That’s impressive. More importantly, that’s progress. “He’s another guy who continues to improve,” Harbaugh said. “He had the three weeks there when ‘Ro’ was hurt, and he was playing every snap, and he was playing special teams. So, he’s actually had a little bit of a break in the last couple of games since ‘Ro’ got back. And even with that, I think he’s made a lot of progress. “He had the green dot [to relay the play calls] for a couple of games, which is a lot of pressure. He’s probably happy to have that off right now, but, again, he’s another guy that learns. He doesn’t make mistakes twice, and he continues to get better for that reason.” Ravens inside linebacker Teddye Buchanan catches up to Bears running back Kyle Monangai in Week 8. Buchanan leads the Ravens with 63 tackles.(Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) Starks has played 538 snaps, more than anyone else on defense. He is third on the team in tackles with 49, and with the addition of safety Alohi Gilman, acquired in a trade for Ravens outside linebacker Odafe Oweh on Oct. 27, he appears to have more freedom to roam in the secondary. With Gilman, the Ravens have moved fellow safety Kyle Hamilton up near the line of scrimmage more. Starks, though, should and needs to be playing well. He was the Ravens’ first-round draft pick in April out of Georgia, the 27th overall player selected. “We play them in the reps that they’ve earned and the reps that they can help us win,” Harbaugh said. “But to your point, I mean Malaki is playing a lot. He’s a starter, and Mike Green’s kind of taking a full-time role now, and I think he’s handling it really well. So, we’ll have to watch it [and] see how they do, but I haven’t seen any signs yet of those guys having any issues with that.” The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Green was relentless in training camp, but it was easy to tell he needed to learn a lot. Like most young players coming out of college, he relied more on speed than power. That could work at Marshall, where he became the Ravens’ second-round pick in April after leading the FBS with 17 sacks, but Green needed to develop more counter moves. He hasn’t yet, but has recorded 20 tackles, including 1 1/2 sacks, while playing 63% of the Ravens’ defensive snaps. Like Buchanan, Green had trouble dropping into coverage as well. It’s part of the adjustment of playing in the NFL, which features as many as five secondary players on the back end because the league has become so pass happy. In a way, that’s good for the Ravens with a surplus of defensive backs. “It’s always a challenge for those linebackers out there, because people try to match him up with a good back, receiving back, or a No. 2 receiver into the boundary — if you keep your nickel to the field,” Harbaugh said. Then he explains the difficulties for Buchanan. “[Buchanan will] get matched up in some of those jobs, those coverage jobs — zone and man — that are challenging, matchup-type jobs,” Harbaugh said. “So, I think that’s probably the biggest issue for the WILL linebackers now in the nickel world of defensive football. But he’s gotten way better at it. He did a good job last week, and those guys — the Dolphins stress that position quite a bit. They throw it right in there behind off play action, right behind that spot quite a bit, and I thought he did a pretty good job.” When a team starts three rookies on defense, consistency will always be a concern. The Ravens were exploited in the early part of the season against teams like Buffalo, Kansas City and Detroit. Let’s call them growing pains. But now with a weak second-half schedule coming up, they should show a little more against teams like Minnesota, Cleveland and the New York Jets. The rookies have to show up and play well. And hopefully, not run into the wall. It has and will always remain a concern. Have a news tip? Contact Mike Preston at epreston@baltsun.com, 410-332-6467 and x.com/MikePrestonSun. View the full article Quote
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