Ravens' Tyus Bowser hopes to become team's latest pass rusher to break out in fourth season
If Tyus Bowser wants to remind himself what’s at stake in his fourth season, he need only look back to the experience of a former teammate from his first two years with the Ravens.
Like Bowser, Za’Darius Smith wobbled through three uneven seasons as he sought to establish his NFL pass-rushing bona fides. In year four, he led the Ravens in sacks and earned a $66 million free-agent deal with the Green Bay Packers. In year five, he busted out as one of the league’s best defenders at any position.
Such a trajectory is unusual for any player, but the soft-spoken Bowser has showed signs that he might become the latest Ravens pass rusher — after Smith, Paul Kruger and Pernell McPhee — to make a leap with free agency approaching. He’s turned the heads of coaches and teammates over the first 10 days of full practices, pushing around linemen who outweigh him by 70 pounds and disrupting plays in the backfield. On Tuesday, he burst in to bat away a screen attempt from Lamar Jackson to Mark Ingram II.
Bowser is playing with an easy confidence that began to emerge in the second half of last season.
