Ravens ILB Otaro Alaka suffers season ending knee injury
The Baltimore Ravens lost a key member of their stout special teams unit on Sunday in their 27-3 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Former undrafted inside linebacker Otaro Alaka went down in the second quarter and did not return.
After the game, Head Coach John Harbaugh announced that the special teams ace is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.
“It looks bad, he’ll probably be out for the year, so we’re very disappointed about that,” Harbaugh said. “He had been doing a really great job on special teams, he was really coming on.”
While Alaka hadn’t played a single snap on defense through the first four games and the first half of the fifth this season, he was a factor in the third phase of the game. He was becoming a staple in several of the Ravens’ superb special teams units by going from playing 48 percent of special teams snaps in Week One, to a season-high 63 percent of special teams snaps in Week Four.
Alaka originally made the team as an undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M last season but spent most of his rookie year on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. This isn’t his first or even second time dealing with an injury-related setback. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in his sophomore in college with the Aggies and was able to bounce back.
“Just another adversity in his career,” Harbaugh said. “It’s part of his journey now and he’s going to make the most of it.”
With him out of commission for the remainder of the season, the Ravens still don’t have a shortage of other experienced special teamers at their disposal. Veteran wide receiver Chris Moore and second-year running back Justice Hill were both inactive in Week Five but could see their roles increase going forward.
