Ravens GM Eric DeCosta gushes over OLB coach Chuck Smith
The Baltimore Ravens saw immense growth from their pass rusher group over the course of the 2023 season. Players like Justin Madubuike broke out, Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy had the best sack seasons of their career, and potential was shown by Odafe Oweh.
One of the big reasons why there was so much growth and production is due to outside linebackers coach Chuck Smith. When asked about Smith, Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta couldn’t stop gushing about the former player turned coach.
“I really pay attention to [pass rush coach] Chuck [Smith]; when he talks, I listen because he is a great pass-rush specialist, and he’s looking for specific traits, and he gets excited by certain guys, and I like that. I love his enthusiasm. He’s a joy to work with in the draft meetings because you know if he loves a guy, and that’s exciting. That’s what you want as an evaluator and as a guy that organizes the draft. You really want your scouts and your coaches to take ownership of certain guys and get on the table for guys, and Chuck does that, and he’s a great coach. So, if he sees these traits in somebody, I get excited. I think we all saw how our guys developed last year and emerge and what we did, and I think Chuck is a big part of that.”
Smith will look to continue the pass rusher’s strong momentum in 2024, with largely the same group returning. Third-year pro David Ojabo will be coming back from injury, while the team drafted edge rusher Adisa Isaac in the third round out of Penn State.
