The Ravens’ struggling defense will have a hard time improving any time soon, as the injury hits keep coming.
Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith has a Grade 2 hamstring strain and will miss a few weeks, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Smith has been one of the most important players on the Ravens’ defense since they acquired him in a trade with the Bears in 2022. He was a first-team All-Pro each of the last two seasons.
It’s been a bad day for injury news coming out of Baltimore. Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike will miss the season with a neck injury, while cornerback Marlon Humphrey will miss multiple weeks with a calf injury. The Ravens entered the season as Super Bowl contenders, but their defense is nowhere near good enough right now, and getting better won’t be easy with key players dropping like flies.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson exited Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs in the third quarter with a hamstring strain.
While Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh told reporters that he had a handle on the team’s extensive list of injuries, he didn’t want to delve into them until Wednesday.
But there had been some social media speculation that Jackson could have gone back into the game if he needed to. When asked about that in his Monday news conference, Harbaugh strongly denied it was the case.
“There was no way he was going to go back in the game. The injury precluded it,” Harbaugh said. “During the game, you’re really just playing the next series as a coach. But there was no way he could go back in the game. I know Lamar — if he could’ve gone back in the game, he would’ve been in the game. That’s how he is.
“But I can assure you he would not have been able to go back in the game under any circumstances.”
Cooper Rush came in and played the rest of the game at quarterback, completing 9-of-13 throws for 52 yards. While Harbaugh did not mention Jackson’s availability for the Week 5 matchup against Houston, if Rush has to play, Harbaugh said the team would be confident in him.
“The guys around him, you’ve got a good group around him — a lot of playmakers around him if he’s playing. And same thing for Tyler Huntley if he’s playing,” Harbaugh said. “You’ve got guys around him, too. You go as a team, and you go compete, and battle, and get after it, and find ways to win games. We can win — we have a really good team, we can win games with our guys. The guys that we have, they have to step up.
“Everybody gets injuries in the course of the season. It’s who deals with them best. So, any of our players not in, the next guy steps up and we plan to go win the football game. And that’s it.”
Jackson ended Sunday’s game 14-of-20 passing for 147 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also had 48 yards rushing on six carries.
The Ravens will be missing one of their key players for multiple games.
While John Harbaugh did not address many of the injuries his team is dealing with at his Monday press conference, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media notes cornerback Marlon Humphrey is expected to miss a couple of weeks with the calf injury he suffered on Sunday.
Humphrey was on the field for 37 percent of Baltimore’s defensive snaps in Week 4.
A first-team All-Pro in 2024, Humphrey has recorded one pass defensed and 16 total tackles so far this season.
The Ravens will host the Texans in Week 5.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh delivered an update on defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike’s health on Monday and it was not a positive one.
Harbaugh said at his press conference that the neck injury that landed Madubuike on injured reserve last week will keep him out for the rest of the 2025 season. When asked if there’s a chance that the injury could end Madubuike’s career, Harbaugh said that was something for Madubuike to answer.
“Those are questions that would be best answered by him,” Harbaugh said.
Madubuike was a 2020 third-round pick and he signed a four-year extension with the team in 2024. He had 43 tackles, 6.5 sacks, and a forced fumble last season and had two sacks in his two appearances this year.
For most of their franchise history, the Baltimore Ravens have been known for having an elite defense. This year is very different.
Through the first four games of the season, the Ravens have had one of the worst defenses in the NFL, giving up a league-high 133 points. In Sunday’s 37-20 loss in Kansas City, a Chiefs offense that had been struggling this year beat up Baltimore for the most points the Chiefs have scored in any game this season as well as the most yards and first downs the Chiefs have gained in any game this season.
Injuries have been a major challenge for the Ravens’ defense. Four starters were already out before the game started on Sunday, and then linebacker Roquan Smith, cornerback Marlon Humphrey and cornerback Nate Wiggins were all injured during the game. But coach John Harbaugh said afterward that’s no excuse.
“You’ve got to find a way to win anyway,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve never made excuses for those kinds of things, and the guys who are up there are going to play well, and we’ve got to find ways for the guys who are in there to execute.”
Despite it all, the Ravens remain the betting favorites to win the AFC North. They’re still likely going to be playing meaningful football in January. But if they’re going to win in January and, they hope, in February, the Ravens need to get their defense fixed.
