Ravens defender named amongst rookies with most to prove in 2025

Mike Green fell out of the first round and will likely enter 2025 with a chip on his shoulder because of it.

The Ravens have long been one of the best-drafting teams in all of football and that certainly goes for the last few seasons. They’ve somehow managed to find impact-player after impact-player, some whom have gone on to be named All-Pro or to the Pro Bowl during their first few professional seasons.

This year’s draft looks to be no different. After selecting top safety prospect Malaki Starks in the first round, the Ravens then landed edge rusher Mike Green — the nation’s top sack artist in 2024 — in the second. When you look at any team’s top two picks from this year’s draft, this is a tough duo to top. Green was a consensus first-round pick for most of the lead-up to the event, so it’s still wild to think a team as good as the Ravens got him at all, nonetheless as their second pick.

With that drop in draft status, however, usually comes with a mission to prove every team that passed on him wrong. In a new article from CBS Sports’ Josh Edwards, Green was named one of nine rookies whom he believes will have the most to prove in 2025.

Here’s what Edwards had to say about Green and why he believes he’ll be a man on a mission in his first year:

“Green was consistently mocked among the first round leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft, but slipped to Day 2. There were reasons for his Friday availability, but the reality is that the Marshall product expected to be gone much sooner. He should carry that chip on his shoulder for the rest of his career. Baltimore needs immediate production among its pass rushers and Green certainly has the talent to flash that potential in minicamp.”

The Ravens need more from their pass rush, this is true. But will there be room for a new starter? Despite his age, Kyle Van Noy just had 12.5 sacks. Odafe Oweh also have double-digits takedowns with 10. Green is talented and will likely push for plenty of playing time, but I would not be surprised if he were to only start games in 2025 because of injuries ahead of him.

Only time will tell whether or not Green is as productive as many think he’ll be in year one, but he couldn’t have picked a much better place to land than in Baltimore where they just love getting after opposing quarterbacks.