Michigan EDGE David Ojabo selected by Baltimore Ravens in second round of 2022 NFL Draft

With the 45th pick in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens selected Michigan Wolverines football EDGE David Ojabo. He’s the third Wolverine to be selected so far, joining defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (No. 2 overall to the Detroit Lions) and defensive back Daxton Hill (No. 31 to the Cincinnati Bengals).

Ojabo was considered a consensus top-15 pick before tearing his Achilles at Michigan’s pro day in early March, but he only fell this far. He’s expected to miss most of if not all of his would-be rookie season in 2022.

“There’s no question [his name would have been called Thursday night had he not gotten hurt],” ESPN analyst Louis Riddick said on the broadcast.

“You could see the growth from game to game. Even from quarter to quarter, you could start to see him figure it out as far as reading offensive tackle sets. Is a guy heavy? Is he light? Do I need to go out or come back inside? You saw him in the run game closing down on pullers, using his hands to set the edge. You can see it start to click for him as he got more and more reps. That’s what you kept seeing with him.

“He’s probably going to take a redshirt year in 2022. I’m telling you, when he gets back healthy and hopefully he gets his explosiveness back, they hit on something here.”

“The improvement from game one to the end of the year with limited football background was remarkable,” Mel Kiper Jr. added. “To see him now in round two, if he has to redshirt this year it is well worth it. He is a phenomenal young man and is going to work as hard as anyone on your football team. You cannot coach the instincts he brings off the edge. That’s a knack. He has it despite his inexperience in football. Nobody knows this kid better than Mike Macdonald.”

Ojabo will reunite with former Michigan defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who’s entering his first year as the Ravens’ D-coordinator, and Ryan Osborn, a quality control coach who served as a U-M analyst working with edge rushers. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh‘s brother, John, is the franchise’s head coach, of course.

The Nigerian-born, Scotland-raised outside linebacker only began playing football midway through high school, but quickly became a standout player, then put it all together during the 2021 season at Michigan.

Playing on the opposite side of the Michigan line from Hutchinson, Ojabo racked up 35 tackles, 12 stops for loss, 11 sacks, eight hurries, three pass breakups, one fumble recovery and a Wolverines record five forced fumbles. He and Hutchinson were the first duo in Michigan history to combine for 25 sacks (Hutchinson recorded a school-record 14).

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“I’m so excited for him,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said on the broadcast. “They’re not going to have to rush him on the field; they can be patient with him. It’s going to be a very smooth, comfortable transition for Ojabo.

“His game is really predicated off speed. It’s all about getting off the ball, and that’s something he’s going to have the opportunity to do, with [defensive end] Odafe Oweh, who he’s familiar with [a former high school teammate of Ojabo’s], on the other side of that defense. So that’s going to be fun to watch those guys together, coming off the edge.

“I think he actually bends a little bit better than Hutchinson once he gets to the top of his rush. He’ll come back down and finish. For somebody that hasn’t played a ton of football, he also has some nifty spin moves. You’ll see him spin inside, and also spin outside. That’s been kind of his go-to as his rush move.”

NFL Network analyst Charles Davis actually compared the former Michigan standout to Oweh.

“The thing I like about [Ojabo] when he goes and rushes — watch how he finishes. As a quarterback, you better have both hands on the ball, because he’s not just coming to get the sack. He’s coming for the strip; he’s coming to get it out of your hands.”

FOX and NFL Network analyst Joel Klatt called quite a few of Ojabo’s games at Michigan last season, and shared some insight from talking to other teams’ coaches about the Wolverine.

“Every opposing coach says, ‘Aidan Hutchinson is really good, but the other guy’s a freak.'”

Ojabo’s breakout season came one year after playing just 26 defensive snaps as a redshirt freshman in 2020, marking an improbable rise from largely unknown to star a big-time draft pick.

The former Michigan standout recorded his first career sack during the Wolverines’ Sept. 11 win over Washington last season, and his breakout game came in a blowout win at Wisconsin in which he registered 2.5 quarterback takedowns. He went on to have two more multi-sack games (at Michigan State, at Penn State), and perhaps the highlight of his season occurred late in the 42-27 beatdown of Ohio State, when he sacked quarterback C.J. Stroud to all but seal the victory.

“David Ojabo, in every way, when you talk about growing physically, mentally, spiritually, strong, fast,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said at the end of last season. “The intensity with which he plays on a down-to-down basis can only be matched by Aidan Hutchinson, [running back] Hassan Haskins and guys like [offensive linemen] Andrew Vastardis and Andrew Stueber. Those guys are at that level of intensity down after down.

“Tremendous to watch his development and he’s … I don’t know close he is to reaching his full potential, but he’s still got some man-years coming in terms of growing, age, and the mindset is just getting so good, so honed. Just A-plus-plus.”

Part of his potential is adding to what he did at Michigan, especially in the run game. Ojabo was used primarily as a pass-rush specialist 297 of his 534 defensive snaps coming on pass downs last season, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). He notched 42 pressures. That specialized trait is coveted in the NFL, though, as evidenced by this draft choice.