Ravens 2024 position review: Inside Linebackers

Breaking down the individual seasons of every player who played meaningful snaps this past year.

With the 2024 season officially in the books and the start of the new league year less than a month away, it’s the perfect time to review the Baltimore Ravens one position group at a time before completely turning the page forward to gearing up for 2025.

In the first installment of this article series, the inside linebackers are up after a year where they struggled collectively at times out of the gate but found a winning formula down the stretch.

---

Roquan Smith

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Not even the Ravens’ venerated field general was exempt from blame for some of their woes when it came to pass defense. Smith spent more time trying to make up for mistakes and lapses of others in coverage that his own performance in that area suffered resulting in the middle of the field being easy pickings for opposing quarterbacks through 10 weeks.

After the entire unit underwent schematic and personnel changes including next to him at the second level, Smith was back to being the consistent and intimidating force in the second half of the season his way to earning his third straight Pro Bowl nod and First Team All Pro honors. The seven-year veteran led the Ravens and ranked fourth in the league with 154 total tackles including four for a loss, 1.5 sacks, three quarterback hits, four pass breakups, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception.

Trenton Simpson

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

When the Ravens selected the former Clemson standout in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft, he was viewed as potentially the immediate replacement for 2020 first-rounder Patrick Queen who was heading into the final year of his rookie deal. Instead, Simpson had to bide his time and earn his stripes on special teams as a rookie and watch a Queen and Smith continue to be the best off-ball linebacker tandem in the league.

The Ravens gave him every opportunity to seize his predecessor’s starting role including taking the vast majority of first-team reps in the offseason and training camp, playing into the second half of preseason games and starting the first 13 games of the regular season. While Simpson flashed his promising potential in extended action, he lacked consistency and was eventually replaced by a two-man veteran platoon. Despite seeing his role on defense diminished down the stretch, he recorded career highs across the board with 73 total tackles including five for a loss, 1.5 sacks, six quarterback hits, four pass breakups and a fumble recovery.

Malik Harrison

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The versatile veteran split his time between playing off the ball and on the edge on early downs for the Ravens this past season and assumed the bulk of the reps next to Smith in the second half of the year. Harrison set a strong edge against the run when he lined up at SAM and played with downhill physicality when he was at WILL, leading to him setting career highs across the board while still being a staple on special teams. In 17 games including the playoffs, he made nine starts and recorded 54 total tackles including three for a loss, three quarterback hits, and two sacks.

Chris Board

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

The Ravens reunited with the former undrafted gem turned special teams ace last offseason after two years away and by the end of the regular season, he was the other half of the two-man rotation that took over Simpson’s spot next to Smith. While Board was excellent playing fast and physical downhill in the run game as well, an aspect of the game he excelled in particular more than his fellow off-ball linebackers was in coverage where he was sticky in man coverage on running backs and tight ends and showed some nice instincts in zone. Board allowed a career-low opposing passer rating of 85.4 and recorded 30 total tackles including two for a loss, a sack, a quarterback hit, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery.

Kristian Welch

Photo by Jordon Kelly/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Board wasn’t the only former undrafted linebacker the Ravens brought back this past season as Welch returned to the team after one year away following not making the 2023 roster. The five-year veteran began the season with the Denver Broncos after getting cut by the Green Bay Packers coming out of training camp and was brought back to Baltimore in mid-October where he’d go on to play 17 snaps on defense including a start in Week 12. Welch played the majority of his snaps on special teams and recorded five total tackles and a fumble recovery in 11 games including the playoffs.