Roquan Smith
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Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Roquan Smith.
The Baltimore Ravens have been the beneficiaries of having inside linebacker Roquan Smith in his prime for the last 4 seasons.
It’s a stretch in which he’s established himself as 1 of the NFL’s elite defenders and signed a 5-year, $100 million contract extension with the Ravens before the 2023 season.
Following what’s being looked at as a down year for Smith in 2025, in which he still had 130 tackles — just no sacks or interceptions — The Athletic’s Jeff Zrbiec singled out Smith as the player on Baltimore’s roster with the “most on the line” in 2026.
“Let’s talk more about Smith,” Zrbiec wrote on July 20. “He’s coming off a season where the defense he leads struggled mightily and he finished without a sack or interception for the first time in his career. His 130 tackles represented his lowest total since 2019, when he played just 12 games. Smith turns 30 in April. Cutting him next offseason would create $20 million in salary-cap savings. He needs a big year to silence the talk that he’s on the decline. ”
NFL Rankings Show Smith Still Highly Regarded
ESPN’s annual position rankings as voted on by NFL executives, coaches, and scouts showed a player in Smith who is still very much held in high regard by his contemporaries.
Smith was ranked No. 2 for the 2nd consecutive season behind San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner.
“He knows what’s coming before the play and plays with reckless abandonment,” one anonymous AFC coach told ESPN.
Smith is 1 of only 2 NFL players to record at least 130 tackles in each of the last 6 seasons alongside future Pro Football Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner — a free agent who might fit well alongside Smith in 2026.
Ravens Haven’t Made Offseason Move at Inside LB
The Ravens didn’t use any of their whopping 11 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft on an inside linebacker and didn’t make a move at the position in free agency, either.
The reason they haven’t made any moves is likely 2nd-year linebacker Teddye Buchanan’s play as a rookie in 2025, despite him tearing his ACL late in the season.
After a standout rookie season in which Buchanan, a 2025 4th-round pick (No. 129 overall), had 93 tackles in 14 games, Pro Football Focus NFL writer Bradley Locker put him on his NFL All-Breakout Team — a list of the “next great players at every position.”
Buchanan, 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, was 1 of 2 young Ravens on Locker’s All-Breakout Team alongside safety and 2025 1st-round pick Malaki Starks.
“Growth feels like the name of the game on Baltimore’s defense, and it should permeate to Buchanan over the middle,” Locker wrote on May 13. “Even as a fourth-round rookie, Buchanan garnered significant playing time with 652 snaps across the team’s first 14 games. Prior to suffering a torn ACL, Buchanan showed promise with an 8.6% missed tackle rate and a 70.8 PFF run-defense grade. The Ravens have hardly adjusted their linebacker room, which means that Buchanan should obtain another year of starting next to All-Pro Roquan Smith. With Jesse Minter now calling the shots, Buchanan could experience a similar elevation to what we saw with the Chargers’ Daiyan Henley in 2024.”