The long wait is almost over in Baltimore. Just over a year after the Ravens lost defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike for the season and maybe — as some feared — for his career, the veteran interior defender is set to make his return to the football field after a week of full participation at practice, per Mike Garfolo of NFL Network. According to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, he’ll be joined in his return by second-year linebacker Teddye Buchanan, whose rookie year was cut short due to a torn ACL in December of last year.
A third-round pick out of Texas A&M for Baltimore in 2020, Madubuike took a few years to reach his full potential. Coming off the bench as a rookie, Madubuike still factored heavily into the defensive line rotation behind veteran starter Derek Wolfe. With Wolfe gone in Year 2, Madubuike found himself playing much more frequently with the first-team defense, but his increased usage didn’t yet come with the leap in production the team expected. In 25 games (14 starts) over those first two years, he only logged three sacks, nine tackles for loss, and seven quarterback hits.
In 2022, Madubuike started to break out. As a full-time starter, he tallied 5.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, and nine quarterback hits, nearly doubling all three totals from his first two campaigns. He took things to an all new level in his fourth NFL season, earning second-team All-Pro honors with career highs in sacks (13.0), total tackles (56), tackles for loss (12), and quarterback hits (33). As a result, the Ravens signed him to a four-year, $98MM extension.
In the first year of his new deal, Madubuike’s production took a dip, but he still proved to be extremely disruptive in his second straight Pro Bowl campaign, totaling 6.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and 17 quarterback hits. Last year, he came out of the gates hot with a sack in each of his first two contests before suffering what appeared to be a neck injury. Two weeks later, it was announced that he would miss the remainder of the season. Baltimore slow played Madubuike’s treatment, putting him under the knife seven months later for a procedure they believed would help him return to the field.
Updates throughout the summer indicated that Madubuike was on the right track. Just days into training camp, he was able to pass his physical and return to practice. The team made sure not to rush him back, though, and after sitting for the first two weeks of the season, Madubuike appears set to make his 2026 debut in Brazil.
Buchanan was a surprise rookie contributor for the Ravens last year. The fourth-round pick out of Cal pushed former third-round Clemson backer Trenton Simpson for defensive first-team snaps next to Roquan Smith as soon as the season began, and Buchanan quickly developed a full-time starting role. Despite missing the last three games of the season, Buchanan finished third on the Ravens defense last year with 93 total tackles. In Year 2, he’ll look to play one more game than he did as a rookie, only missing the first two contests of the season.