OWINGS MILLS — Kyle Van Noy is looking to turn back time.
At age 33, the outside linebacker is coming off one of his finest seasons as a pro.
He signed with the Ravens on September 27th and finished with a career-high nine sacks in 14 games — his fewest appearances since 2015.
The Ravens re-signed Van Noy to another one-year deal in April, and he is confident that he can duplicate last season’s success entering his 11th year in the NFL.
“I just want to continue to show myself and show people that I can still play at a high level,” Van Noy said. “I feel like I’ve been underappreciated in my career.”
In addition to the nine sacks, Van Noy finished with two forced fumbles, four passes defended and 30 tackles. He also earned the second-highest PFF grade of his career (75.0).
The Ravens became the first team in league history to finish a season with the No. 1 ranking in fewest points allowed (16.5 per game), sacks (60), and takeaways (31).
Van Noy said the Ravens’ coaches put him in position to succeed because they let him focus on getting to the quarterback.
“In college, I played on the ball, and then in the NFL for my first – I think it was until 2019 – I played off the ball,” he said. “I would love to see how many people could stay in the league making that transformation. Or, I’ve been asked to do both in one season. So, I’ve been asked to do a lot, and I think that may have hindered some things because I wasn’t able to focus on pass rush or covering people.
“I feel like hopefully – it’ll be like my third year ever out of my 11 that I get to focus on just pass rushing. The other year was in 2019, where I had a really good year. Last year was just all pass rush. So, I’m expecting big things from myself.”
The Ravens will need Van Noy’s production, especially after losing Jadeveon Clowney, who signed with the Carolina Panthers as a free agent. Clowney led the linebackers with 9 1/2 sacks last season.
The Ravens hope that third-year player David Ojabo will give them a boost. Ojabo should be ready for training camp after having surgery in November to repair a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament, which ended his season after three games.
In addition to Ojabo and Van Noy, the Ravens’ other outside linebackers include Odafe Oweh (three sacks), Tavius Robinson (one sack) and Malik Hamm (injured reserve). The Ravens also added Adisa Isaac in the third round of this year’s NFL draft from Penn State.
The Ravens also have a new defensive coordinator, Zach Orr, who was promoted after Mike Macdonald left to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Van Noy expects the Ravens to remain aggressive with Orr at the helm.
“He knows defenses. He eats, breathes [and] sleeps football,” Van Noy said about Orr. “That’s what you want – playing for a coach like that, who has literally dedicated his – I believe it’s 32 years now – just straight football.”