Trey Hendrickson looks like a star edge rusher again. Do the Ravens have a running mate?

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Early in the second quarter Sunday, Trey Hendrickson stood in unfamiliar territory.

Over the first 128 snaps of his Ravens career, Hendrickson had lined up exclusively on the right side of the team’s defensive line. That was where he’d first established himself as one of the NFL’s best pass rushers, a four-time Pro Bowl pick worthy of the four-year, $112 million contract he signed this offseason.

But here, on snap No. 129, a first-and-10 at Cleveland’s 16-yard line, he was on the left side, matched up with Browns right tackle Tytus Howard. The play was a success for the Ravens — and a struggle for Hendrickson. Inside linebacker Trenton Simpson, lined up at Hendrickson’s usual spot, sniffed out a tight end screen, and quarterback Deshaun Watson had to throw the ball away. Hendrickson tried to win with an outside speed rush, lost his balance as he tried to reverse course and ended up on all fours. Hendrickson had three other pass rush reps as a left-sided rusher Sunday. He didn’t win any of them.

As Hendrickson prepares for an awkward reunion Sunday in Baltimore with the Cincinnati Bengals, the team he long starred for but could never get a long-term commitment from, the Ravens’ search for a premier edge rusher appears over. Despite a finger injury that has sidelined him for two games and bothered him since Week 1, Hendrickson has two sacks and 25 pressures, tied for 11th-most in the NFL, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. After recording a season-high eight pressures in Sunday’s 13-10 loss to the Browns, Hendrickson has the highest pressure rate (22.7%) among the league’s top pass rushers.

The only problem for the Ravens: His production is, quite literally, all right. Since 2021, Hendrickson’s first Pro Bowl season in Cincinnati, he has 59 sacks as a right-sided pass rusher, according to Sports Info Solutions, and none as a left-sided pass rusher.

Compounding that problem: The Ravens’ second-most-talented edge rusher, outside linebacker Mike Green, has also been more effective on the right side of the line this season.

“We have to find the spots where you can move them around — potentially both of them — move them around and create different matchups,” coach Jesse Minter said Monday. “I think Trey is a really, really good right-side rusher. … We have to find really good ways to make sure we’re still getting a lot out of Mike. I thought he played well the last couple games when we didn’t have Trey. And so we have to make sure that we’re finding really good ways with both of them out there to be really effective."

Outside linebacker Tavius Robinson, who usually starts opposite Hendrickson and lines up inside in some personnel groupings, has a team-high 3.5 sacks this season. But on a snap-to-snap basis, his pass rush production has been unremarkable; Robinson has just 11 pressures and an 8.7% pressure rate as a left-sided rusher, according to SIS, one of the league’s lowest such marks among qualifying players. Second-round pick Zion Young and fellow rookie Ethan Burke, meanwhile, have been mostly nonfactors in their pass rush opportunities.

Green’s best flashes in the Ravens’ Week 4 win over the Tennessee Titans and Week 5 win over the Atlanta Falcons came in Hendrickson’s customary spot. With Hendrickson sidelined by his finger injury, Green had six total pressures, including a sack, in 42 pass rush snaps (14.3% pressure rate) as a right-sided rusher in those two games. Compare that to his 40 pass rush snaps this season as a left-sided rusher, where Green has just three pressures and no sacks (7.5% pressure rate).

Still, there’s hope that Green can help balance out the Ravens’ front as they prepare to face a string of Pro Bowl-level quarterbacks, starting with Joe Burrow on Sunday. In his breakout 2024 season at Marshall, Green split time between both ends of the line and was far more productive as a left-sided rusher, posting 11 of his 17 sacks and a 22% pressure rate. And in his rookie season last year, he was slightly more dangerous on the left side (10.6% pressure rate) than the right side (9.4%).

Whoever lines up over Bengals right tackle Amarius Mims, whether it’s Robinson, Green or Hendrickson, will get nothing easy Sunday. Mims, a 2024 first-round pick and hulking physical presence, has allowed just four pressures and one sack all season, according to Pro Football Focus.

A promising return

Rookie wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane, who’d been sidelined since late in the second quarter of Week 1 because of a wrist injury, finished his first career game Sunday. And the early results for the Ravens’ training camp standout were promising.

Lane was targeted five times by quarterback Tyler Huntley against Cleveland, finishing with four catches for 40 yards. He lined up primarily out wide and ran a good mix of routes in his 20 snaps as a receiver, according to SIS, working primarily over the middle of the field:

• Six dig routes (in-breakers)
• Four slant routes
• Three comeback/curl routes
• Three fades/go routes
• One out route
• One corner route
• One seam route
• One deep-cross route

Three of Lane’s catches came on slants; he’s already tied with wide receiver Rashod Bateman for the team lead in receptions on slants (three). Lane’s other catch came on a curl route, separating from Browns star cornerback Denzel Ward and converting on a third-and-6 with an 8-yard grab.

Lane also nearly dropped his fourth and final catch, and he struggled at times to separate against press coverage. But Minter said Monday that the third-round pick “did some really nice things.”

“I think there’s parts of the game where [you can see] it’s his second game, and it shows that it’s his second game,” he said. “I thought he had some really nice plays and some nice catches. He had a couple really nice blocks as well. He’s always been that way. I thought he played really well. I think he’d be the first to tell you, hopefully, he can now get in rhythm, and you’ll see some major jumps for him.”