Ravens OLB Mike Green believes a double-digit-sack breakout is within reach

Baltimore’s second-year edge rusher Mike Green came out of a meeting with defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver feeling a particular kind of relief. Weaver showed Green a film cut-up designed to illustrate just how close he was to producing a much larger sack total during his rookie season, and Green said the session helped confirm that he was not far from the standard he wanted to meet.

Green’s rookie year ended with 3.5 sacks, but the Ravens frame it as a developmental year that mostly missed on timing and execution rather than ability. Entering his second season, Green is viewed as a key component in Baltimore’s push to improve a pass rush that struggled to generate pressure, finishing 2025 with 30 sacks, a total shown on the team’s league-stat summary as well.

Weaver’s message was blunt in its own way. Green said the coordinator highlighted how close he was to winning more matchups, and Weaver characterized it as “milliseconds away” from double-digit sacks. That is an important distinction for a unit that has to translate half-seconds into quarterback hits, and hits into sacks, against offensive lines that adjust quickly once a defense shows its hand.

The Ravens also point to a personnel-and-philosophy shift on defense. Green said he believes the pass-rush approach under the prior regime leaned more toward containing, while the current staff’s focus is more attacking, emphasizing sharper moves and earlier pressure. The team’s message is that pass rush productivity is not only about who lines up, but how the rush is planned and taught, down to the decision-making that happens between the snap and contact.

Baltimore’s offseason has leaned into the idea that the edges need support. In addition to Green, the Ravens have invested in a complementary outside group, including veteran Trey Hendrickson, a second-round pick in Zion Young, and the return of Tavius Robinson from a career year. Hendrickson’s addition is the clearest high-end bet, given that the team announced a four-year deal and noted his recent production profile, including 17.5 sacks in each of the 2023 and 2024 seasons and a league-leading sack total in 2024, which speaks directly to the kind of edge-rushing pressure the Ravens want to sustain.

For Green, the most tangible change is reportedly not a physical one so much as a mental one. He said the game is “slowing down,” and that he has improved at quickly processing what offenses are doing. The immediate test will come once Baltimore’s pass rush has to do it without the benefit of a coach rewinding the tape. If Green’s second season follows the story the cut-up promised, Baltimore’s front will have a credible third element, beyond scheme and veterans, that can push a struggling pressure group back toward the league’s upper tier.

Green’s push toward a double-digit sack total also carries a broader implication for Baltimore’s identity. When the Ravens can pressure the quarterback, their defensive play can become less reactive and more disruptive, shaping down-to-down decisions for opposing offenses. If Green truly is close to that production level, the Ravens will be watching early training-camp repetitions, and later the regular-season snaps where he turns “close” into sacks. It is a simple football expectation, but in Baltimore’s case, it is also a statement about what kind of defense they are trying to be.