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Baltimore Ravens linebacker Teddye Buchanan.

If he’s listening, Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Teddye Buchanan should hear the opportunity of a lifetime knocking on his door in 2026.

After a standout rookie season in which Buchanan, a 2025 4th-round pick (No. 129 overall) had 93 tackles in 14 games, Pro Football Focus NFL writer Bradley Locker thinks enough of Buchanan to put him on his NFL All-Breakout Team — a list of the “next great players at every position.”

Buchanan, 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, was 1 of 2 young Ravens on Locker’s All-Breakout Team alongside safety and 2025 1st-round pick Malaki Starks.

“Growth feels like the name of the game on Baltimore’s defense, and it should permeate to Buchanan over the middle,” Locker wrote on May 13. “Even as a fourth-round rookie, Buchanan garnered significant playing time with 652 snaps across the team’s first 14 games. Prior to suffering a torn ACL, Buchanan showed promise with an 8.6% missed tackle rate and a 70.8 PFF run-defense grade. The Ravens have hardly adjusted their linebacker room, which means that Buchanan should obtain another year of starting next to All-Pro Roquan Smith. With Jesse Minter now calling the shots, Buchanan could experience a similar elevation to what we saw with the Chargers’ Daiyan Henley in 2024.”

Ravens Spending Big at Inside Linebacker

The Ravens are already spending big money at inside linebacker with Smith, a 4-time NFL All-Pro and 5-time Pro Bowler who has 2 years remaining on the 5-year, $100 million contract extension he signed in January 2023.

In part, that’s why Buchanan represents such an incredible value on a 4-year, $5.1 million rookie contract.

Smith led the Ravens with 130 tackles in 15 games in 2025 to go with 5 TFL, 3 pass deflections, and 1 forced fumble — and comes with a staggering $32.7 million salary cap hit in each of the next 2 seasons.

Buchanan’s cap number tops out at $1.4 million in the final year of his contract in 2028.

Buchanan Made NFL Leap Following ACC Transfer

Buchanan, a Palo Alto, California, native, was an All-ACC pick in his one season at Cal after spending 4 seasons at UC-Davis.

In 2024 at Cal, Buchanan had 114 tackles, 12 TFL, 5.0 sacks, 4 pass deflections, and 2 forced fumbles in 13 games. He was an All-Big Sky Conference pick at UC-Davis in 2023.

“Teddye Buchanan said that two years ago he was playing at UC-Davis and not sure what his future held,” Ravens reporter Bo Smolka wrote on X in September 2025. “Now he is essentially competing to be a starting inside linebacker in the NFL.”

As a rookie, Buchanan surprised the Ravens by beating out Trenton Simpson to become the starter after just 1 regular-season game and was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month in October 2025.

“Buchanan’s draft stock could be tied directly to his size, athleticism and upside on special teams and in coverage,” NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft evaluation. “With below-average play recognition, he becomes more helper than hero as a run defender. He’s twitchy in short spaces and can float through space on fluid feet and smooth hips when asked to cover. Buchanan has physical tools to work with but might never get there as a run defender. Still, if he can cover and play special teams well, he might make a team.”