Getty Ravens ILB Roquan Smith believes that 2023 will be his best season yet after having a full offseason in Baltimore under his belt.
It’s hard to fathom a player having a better season than at the inside linebacker position that the one Baltimore Ravens defensive field general Roquan Smith had last season despite not joining the team until midway through the year via a trade from the Chicago Bears.
He was already leading the league in tackles prior to getting traded and was on a torrid pace with an average of 10.3 tackles per game according to Pro Football Reference.
Not only did he make what looked like a seamless transition into the Ravens’ starting lineup but he raised the entire level of the defensive unit as a whole with his present and finished the year with 169 tackles including 11 for a loss, 4.5 sacks, three interceptions, and six passes defended.
In a recent appearance on ‘The Lounge’ podcast via the team’s digital media department, Smith admitted that he was guessing at times when he was leading the charge for the Ravens’ defense during the second half last year but feels confident that he can take his game to an even high level in 2023.
“I think now, having the offseason under my belt, the tail-end of the last season, and then with (training) camp and the preseason and stuff, I think it’s going to be pretty sweet,” Smith said. “I’m just excited to get out there and fly around with the guys because I think we’re in for something special and I think (for) myself personally, I think it’s probably going to be my best year yet.”
He outlined some specific goals that he’d like to accomplish including lowering his missed tackle percentage which was just 4.5 percent in 2022 between his time with both teams, making more plays on the ball through a better understanding of “route concepts” from offseason study, improving his block protection in the run game, and “making more splash plays.”
“That’s something that I want to do and I think I’ll be able to do it,” Smith said.
He has the “utmost respect” for Ravens legend and Hall of Fame inside linebacker Ray Lewis who he looked up to growing up, modeled his game after, and has a relationship with.
The two of them got to spend some time together, first at the Pro Bowl and then again at the team facility during the offseason as part of a project with NFL Films and Smith tried to soak up as much knowledge as he could.
“I dream of playing that style that he played and how physical he was,” Smith said. “I’m just trying to get any little ticks and tacks that I can pick up from him…Around (training) camp time (and) later in the season, going to get some more film work in to actually try to see the game from his eyes.”
Smith Doubles Down on Bold Prediction
Shortly after his arrival to the team and insertion into the starting lineup, he quickly formed what was arguably the best inside linebacker tandem in the league during the second half of the 2022 season with 2020 first-rounder Patrick Queen.
Earlier this month, Queen went on the record saying that he believes that the two of them could prove to be the NFL’s best from start to finish, and Smith doubled down in support of that belief.
“I think we’re the best duo in the league and with us working this offseason and having all of camp together [and] preseason, get ready,” Smith said. “I think PQ is a heck of a player and I know the fire he has underneath him right now.”
Despite the fact that he was coming off the best season of his career, the team declined Queen’s fifth-year option which means that 2023 will be the final year of his rookie deal and he is slated to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason. After spending a lot of time with him this offseason strengthening their bond on and off the field, Smith thinks Queen’s 2023 season is “going to be special.”
“The mindset he has right now, it’s like ‘Hey, fifth-year option not picked up but then I’ll become a free agent’ or franchise tagged after he has a career year this year,” Smith said. “Whatever the case may be or an extension.
“He has the mindset in knowing that if he puts up the numbers that I know he’s capable of and he knows he’s capable of and we play to our style that we plan to play to week in and week out, I think PQ is going to be a happy man at the end of the season.”
He isn’t the only person that recently went on record expressing faith that the two of them can become the top tandem in the league. CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr believes that Smith and Queen are not only the best duo of any position on the Ravens roster but also to thinks they are “arguably the best linebacker duo in the league.”
“Smith made an instant impact in the Ravens defense since Baltimore acquired him prior to the trade deadline,” he wrote. “Smith and Patrick Willis are the only players to have 150-plus tackles, four-plus sacks, and three-plus interceptions in a season.
“Queen is coming off a season in which he notched a career-high in tackles (117), sacks (five), interceptions (two), and passes defensed (six). He is one of three defenders (Roquan Smith and Bobby Wagner) with at least 300 tackles, three interceptions, and 10 sacks since entering the league in 2020. If Baltimore makes a deep playoff run in 2023, Smith and Queen will be a massive reason why.”
Excited About Potential of New Offense to be Nightmare For Opposing Defenses
One of the most impactful moves that the Ravens made this offseason outside of roster construction was the hiring of Todd Monken to replace Greg Roman as their next offensive coordinator.
The well-respected and innovative veteran coach spent the past two years helping lead Smith’s alma mater, the University of Georgia, to back-to-back national championships for the first time in program history.
“It was bittersweet,” Smith said about the hiring of Monken. “He helped the dawgs with the two back-to-backs so that’s pretty sweet…Thankful for his time there.”
When he tuned in to watch the Bulldogs play on Saturdays the past three years, he was in awe of how impressive their prolific offense was under Monken and the problems they caused for opposing teams’ defenses.
“Seeing some of his playcalling, I used to be like’ Man, if this guy was in the league and doing some of the things he was doing, it would be pretty sweet and create a lot of chaos for defenses’,” Smith said. “There’s going to be a lot of good stuff that he’s going to do with Lamar (Jackson) as well and just the offense in general.”
He is both excited and grateful that he’ll be on the sidelines watching the Ravens’ offense perform and not be on the opposing defense tasked with trying to stop them on Sundays in live games.
“Route concepts, scheme-wise, just everything,” Smith said. “I can see a big difference in the offense with no disrespect to anyone.”
