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Ojabo said Wednesday that he's added 5-to-10 pounds of muscle this offseason and currently feels "more explosive" than he did before his Achilles tear in March 2022, Clifton Brown of the Ravens' official website reports.
Ojabo was widely projected as a first-round pick prior to the injury at his pro day last March and went 45th overall even with no expectation of rookie-year contributions. The linebacker made his NFL debut nine months after the injury but played only 23 defensive snaps in three appearances (including playoffs) over Baltimore's final five games. Ojabo did have a strip-sack on one of those snaps, Week 18 at Cincinnati, and he'll have every chance to earn a lot of playing time in 2023 after the Ravens relied on 30-something OLBs Justin Houston and Jason Pierre-Paul (both free agents as of mid-May) for 923 combined snaps last year. Odafe Oweh and Tyus Bowser are Baltimore's returning edge rushers with significant NFL experience, but the former has only eight sacks in 32 career games (1,249 snaps) and the latter 19.5 in 89 (2,443 snaps). In addition to his pass-rushing upside, Ojabo is plenty big enough to handle early down snaps, especially if he's now up to around 255-260 pounds (he weighed 250 at the 2022 Combine).
