Ravens outside linebacker David Ojabo finalized his rookie contract Tuesday, ending a training camp holdout that had made the second-round pick the last unsigned player from this year’s draft class.
Terms were not disclosed, but under the NFL’s rookie salary slotting structure for the No. 45 overall pick, Ojabo’s four-year deal is expected to be worth about $7.9 million. Negotiations had stalled over the guaranteed money in the third year of Ojabo’s contract.
With his deal done, Ojabo can now report to Owings Mills and resume his offseason rehabilitation and rookie-year preparation under the supervision of Ravens officials. Ojabo was considered a first-round talent before he tore his Achilles tendon at Michigan’s pro day in March. In his breakout 2021 season with the Wolverines, he had 11 sacks and five forced fumbles in 14 games.
After drafting Ojabo in late April, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said the Ravens’ medical staff was optimistic, based on its evaluations at the NFL scouting combine, that Ojabo would have a chance to play “at some point this year.”
“David is a guy that we’ve all seen play multiple times,” DeCosta said. “He’s a player, this fall, that I saw and thought at some point would be a viable pick for us in the first round. He just really came on this year with tremendous pass-rushing ability, speed, quickness, all the things you want to see.
“Plus, we had the benefit of getting a lot of information from the school, obviously, because of [defensive coordinator] Mike Macdonald and [Michigan head coach] Jim Harbaugh. So we knew the type of kid he was. For us, at this point to get him in the second round was actually great. We were very excited to take him, as you can imagine.”
