RAVENS OLB DAVID OJABO OUT FOR THE SEASON WITH PARTIALLY TORN ACL, EXPECTED BACK BEFORE TRAINING CAMP
Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker David Ojabo suffered a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament injury and is now out for the season, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh confirmed on Monday.
Ojabo, who hasn’t featured for the team since Week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts, was placed on Injured Reserve on September 30th with an ankle and knee injury. Harbaugh told reporters the 23-year-old had surgery late last week in California to repair the ACL and is expected to make a full recovery before training camp next year.
“David Ojabo had surgery last week, late, actually in LA to repair a partially torn ACL,” Harbaugh said in his weekly Monday presser. “He had to make a decision about it in terms of whether to risk it or not. Every medical expert said to get it fixed… [but] he wanted to play.”
Harbaugh revealed in October that Ojabo had a decision to make regarding his injury and remained discreet with any particular details. “He’s still being evaluated,” said Harbaugh. “There are some decisions that have to be made, that he has to make, in terms of how he wants to approach the injury issues that he has. It’s just kind of — I think that’s still private, on his concern. So I would just say that is up in the air, that one.”
The former Michigan Wolverine has had an unlucky start to his professional career with two of his first years in the league being limited due to season-ending injuries. Ojabo suffered a torn Achilles ahead of the 2022 NFL draft during his Pro Day at the University of Michigan and had to sit out the majority of his rookie year. And with another season-ender, the former second-round pick will now miss his second year in the league.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said on Monday that despite the partially torn ACL, Ojabo was determined to play this year. “He wanted to play,” said Harbaugh. “Even I told him. I said, ‘You’ve got to get that right for the rest of your career’ because it’s a clean type of a surgery. He’ll be rolling again. Training camp at the latest, he’ll be rolling.”
Ojabo told reporters ahead of the Ravens’ Week 6 game against the Titans in London that he intended to return this season but did not provide an exact timetable for his return. “[I’m] just working day by day, no timetable right now,” the Scottish-Nigerian linebacker said. “Just working hard to get back out there.”
One of the most promising raw talents at outside linebacker coming into the 2022 NFL draft, Ojabo was a game wrecker for the Wolverines lining up opposite last year’s second overall pick Aidan Hutchinson. Standing at 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, Ojabo registered 35 tackles including 12 for loss in his last year in college, racking up 11 sacks, a program-record 5 forced fumbles, eight quarterback hurries, 3 pass breakups and a fumble recovery.
Touted by many draft analysts to have had the potential to go in the first round had he not suffered a torn Achilles, Ojabo would end up falling to the Ravens at pick 45. With the confirmation of a partially torn ACL, the former second-team All-American has been dealt yet another blow to his promising career, meaning he’s now played just 5 games over his first two seasons in the league. Ojabo has registered 7 total tackles, 2 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles in those five games.
Ravens’ defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald, who also coached Ojabo at Michigan, was optimistic about the young linebacker and said on Monday he had “full confidence” Ojabo would have a great career. “David’s going to be a great player in this league,” said MacDonald. “He’s going to have a great career. Obviously, you feel for him, the way his career has started. He’s dealing with adversity right now, so he needs our support, and he has it. But he’s going to have a great career, and he’s going to recover. He’ll be back, ready to roll, next year. I have full confidence in that.”
The former First-team All-Big Ten’s season-ending surgery brings the tally of Baltimore Ravens’ season-ending injuries for the year to 4. The Ravens began the season without rookie G Andrew Vorhees, who tore his ACL at the NFL Combine in March, and lost RB JK Dobbins to an Achilles tear in Week 1 before losing All-Pro TE Mark Andrews to an ankle injury on Thursday Night Football last week.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Maize & Blue Nation. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.