The Ravens spent all summer making sure Trenton Simpson sounded like more than just a depth piece. On Sunday, they may have to prove it.
Baltimore didn’t just sit its starters in the preseason. It kept a number of important backups on the sideline too, and Simpson was one of the names it protected.
His role was never fully settled: he was somewhere between a starter and a special-teams piece, depending on Teddye Buchanan’s recovery from late-season ACL surgery. With Buchanan still not able to practice fully for an entire workweek, and with All Pro defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike in the same boat, Simpson could be looking at a major assignment against an Colts offense that carved up Ravens head coach Jesse Minter’s defense last season.
That’s a lot to ask of a player the organization has been publicly praising for months.
“His growth and development from where I remember him to where he is now has just been astronomical," defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, who was here when Simpson was drafted before going to Miami, said this offseason.
Minter has been just as direct about what he thinks Simpson can bring.
"I feel really good about him," head coach Jesse Minter said on Simpson in late August. "He is an extremely versatile, athletic linebacker that's got a lot of great traits.
He can do a lot for us. He can line up in a lot of different places.”
The challenge, though, is whether those traits translate when the game starts moving at full speed. Baltimore would love to use Simpson in space, let him come downhill, and put him closer to the ballcarrier instead of asking him to live in coverage.
That might be easier said than done in Week 1. The Colts have shown they can punish linebackers with quick throws underneath, and that’s exactly the sort of test Simpson may see.
Roquan Smith has already sounded the alarm on the need to tackle well, especially after the starters sat out the preseason. Smith wears the green dot, and after a rough year in which he was especially exposed in coverage, he said this week, “You definitely have to be prepared to tackle.” When Minter matched up with the Colts last year, quarterback Daniel Jones went 15/18 for 140 yards and two touchdowns (136.5 rating) on throws less than five yards downfield.
That’s the kind of attack that can put linebackers under constant stress. It’s also not the only issue. Jonathan Taylor ripped through the lighter personnel groupings Minter likes to use last season, averaging seven yards per carry, which is a strong sign Baltimore may lean heavier on Sunday than it usually prefers.
Simpson knows the noise around him. Three seasons in the NFL haven’t matched the Ravens’ expectations for the former third-round pick, and his path has been complicated by playing on defenses that were in heavy-regression mode.
He was viewed as a possible replacement for former first-round pick Patrick Queen and as a player who could make a real impact. After serving as an understudy in Mike Macdonald’s record-setting defense in 2023, Simpson was turned loose in 2024.
Instead, he was mostly parked on defense until late in the year. He didn’t get much run through Week 14, spending most of that stretch in sub packages before Baltimore finally needed him again over the final three games. From Week 8 through Week 14, he played just 43 snaps on defense.
There were a few bright spots, including two tackles for loss against New England, but the overall body of work still left plenty to be desired.
The Ravens also saw a Week 18 matchup that offered a similar kind of challenge. Aaron Rodgers targeted Simpson a career-high seven times, completing five of those throws, and Baltimore was seeing the same type of quick-game profile it may get from Jones. The Ravens are 10-12 when Simpson plays 20 or more defensive snaps, and while he’s hardly the only reason for those losses, he hasn’t yet established himself as a dependable regular-season answer.
Now the Ravens are asking him to step into a bigger role in a hurry. Minter has a reputation for putting players in positions where they can succeed, and Simpson has been working to meet that moment by digging into film and sharpening the mental side of his game.
"I could say honestly this offseason I focused on film study,” Simpson said during camp, “making sure I take another approach to the game mentally, knowing the ins and outs of what to expect from the offense, and then just being confident, being me, playing fast, physical football and just being prepared."
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