Feb. 28, 2026, 12:58 p.m. ET
For the rest of his life, Boye Mafe and his 2025 Seattle Seahawks teammates must forever have the phrase ‘Super Bowl Champion’ attached to their names. Now comes the question. Will Mafe continue to call himself or Seahawk, or will he join another franchise? Might that franchise be the Baltimore Ravens?
This is one of those arguments that sells itself. The need Baltimore has along its defensive line has been discussed for a while. Nnamdi Madubuike’s future is still up in the air. Mike Green, a 2025 rookie, still hasn’t caught fire yet.
Brent Urban, Kyle Van Noy, Taven Bryan, Dre’Mont Jones, and David Ojabo are all impending free agents. That makes a possible draft pick and free-agent addition seem possible. Lines have been drawn connecting the dots representing the Ravens and the aforementioned recently-minted Super Bowl champion.
Boye Mafe is mentioned in a Ravens free-agency theory.
Recently, USA Today’s Christian D’Andrea pieced together a prediction of where 32 of the NFL’s top free agents might land. He lists Baltimore’s top roster needs at the offensive line, EDGE, defensive line, WR corps, and at cornerback. He also sees Mafe as a fit for Anthony Weaver’s defense. Here’s what he mentions as an argument.
Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.
“Baltimore needs a youth infusion at the edge after Kyle Van Noy floated back to earth and Odafe Oweh realized his potential 3,000 miles west in Los Angeles. Mafe only had two sacks last season, but (they) came on a career-best 13.2 percent pressure rate for the Super Bowl champions. Only one player with at least 100 pass rushing snaps was above 11.4 percent for the Ravens last fall… and that was Oweh.”
It’s a reasonable argument for a reasonable theory. In total, Mafe has 164 tackles (including 24 for loss) through four seasons. He has also earned 20 sacks, 36 additional QB hits, 14 pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and two recoveries during 65 in-game appearances with 34 starts.
The Ravens have never been shy about reloading at premium defensive positions. If the goal is to inject youth and maintain disruption off the edge, Boye Mafe checks so many boxes.
He’s 26 and battle-tested. He’s coming off a season where the sack total doesn’t jump off the page, but the pressure rate absolutely does. And in today’s NFL, consistent pressure is often more predictive than sack totals alone.
Baltimore needs juice on the edge. Mafe might need a new stage. Sometimes, that is all that is necessary for two timelines to intersect.