The Ravens got the kind of training camp news that changes the mood around a defense fast: Nnamdi Madubuike is trending in the right direction, and maybe faster than anyone expected.
Baltimore put the star defensive tackle on the active physically unable to perform list Saturday, but that move came with a much more encouraging layer underneath it. The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec reported shortly after the roster move that the seventh-year veteran had been cleared by independent spine and cervical doctors to return to the field, according to his sources.
"He’s on PUP to get reacclimated and for [the] team to evaluate conditioning," Zrebiec wrote. "He could practice as early as next week."
That’s a huge development for a player whose 2025 season ended after just two games because of a severe neck injury that had once been rumored to be potentially career-threatening. It also fits with the tone Baltimore coach Jesse Minter and general manager Eric DeCosta had been setting in recent media appearances, where both hinted that better news could be coming for the two-time Pro Bowler.
For the Ravens, getting Madubuike back would be more than a boost. It would be a jolt.
When he’s healthy, he’s one of the league’s most disruptive interior pass rushers, and his recent production backs that up. In his last 36 regular-season games before the injury, the former third-round pick in 2020 piled up 21.5 sacks.
That stretch included a breakout 2023 season, when he led the team and all interior defensive linemen with a career-high 13 sacks.
Baltimore felt his absence in a big way last season. Without him for most of the year, the pass rush never found a steady rhythm. The defense went from finishing with the second-most sacks in 2024 to tying for the third-fewest last year with 30, and no player on the roster got past five.
The Ravens have added help this offseason, including six-time Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell, four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Trey Hendrickson and second-round rookie outside linebacker Zion Young. But none of that changes the fact that Madubuike’s return would be the biggest lift of all, both for the pass rush and for the defense as a whole.
Baltimore also placed five other players on the active PUP list: defensive linemen Travis Jones and John Jenkins, inside linebacker Teddye Buchanan, outside linebacker Adisa Isaac and cornerback Bilhal Kone.
Jones is working back from a pectoral injury that kept him out of the offseason program. Even so, he just turned in a career year while filling in for Madubuike, finishing with a career-high 47 total tackles and a team-best five sacks.
Jenkins, heading into his 14th season, was also sidelined during OTAs and mandatory minicamp while recovering from an undisclosed injury. He was one of Baltimore’s best value signings last offseason and played so well that he earned the first contract extension of his career at age 36 before the season ended.
Buchanan’s rookie year ended in December with a torn ACL, but the early signs around his recovery have been strong. He started 13 of 14 games, finished with 93 total tackles, ranked third on the team in that category and earned a spot on the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie Team.
Kone lost his entire rookie season after tearing his MCL and ACL in his preseason debut last year, a brutal setback after a promising start to camp. He’s on the roster bubble entering this training camp, but there is still a path for the 2025 sixth-round pick to compete for a spot and possibly work his way into the outside corner rotation.
Isaac’s situation is another frustrating one. The 2024 third-rounder has been limited by injuries over his first two seasons, all of his appearances coming in his rookie year. He missed all of last season with an elbow injury suffered in the preseason, and now he’ll have to prove he can get on the field, stay there and contribute if he wants to stick and help round out the edge group.
Baltimore also placed third-year offensive lineman Corey Bullock on the Non-Football Injury list as he continues to recover from surgery that kept him out of the final stretch of the offseason program. The 2024 undrafted free agent is one of the internal options expected to compete for the job of replacing three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum, but every missed practice makes his path tougher against veterans Ethan Pocic and Danny Pinter.
The Ravens also made a pair of roster moves after bringing in former Raven Chris Moore to help the wide receiver depth chart and signing veteran offensive lineman Hakeem Adeniji.
Both players had tryouts Friday, and Baltimore cleared room on the 90-man roster by waiving punter Luke Elzinga and offensive lineman Jared Penning, both second-year former undrafted free agents. Elzinga’s release makes sixth-round rookie Ryan Eckley the clear favorite to be the Ravens’ starting punter for 2026, since he is now the only punter on the roster.
Adeniji is entering his seventh season and spent last year with the Dallas Cowboys, where he played in 12 games and made his first start since the 2022 season. A sixth-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020 out of Kansas, the 28-year-old has lined up at both guard and tackle during his career.
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