Ravens name Chuck Smith, pass-rush instructor for NFL stars, as outside linebackers coach

Chuck Smith, a former NFL defensive end and renowned pass-rushing coach, was named the Ravens’ outside linebackers coach Wednesday.

Smith replaces Rob Leonard, who left the Ravens after one season to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ defensive line coach. His hire comes a day after Dennard Wilson was named the team’s defensive backs coach.

“Chuck is a proven and highly-respected pass rush coach who many pro and collegiate players have sought guidance from,” coach John Harbaugh said in a statement. “He brings unique insight, experience and passion to the Ravens, and we’re confident that he’ll have a great impact on our outside linebackers group.”

Like Ravens pass game specialist Keith Williams, who worked as a personal coach for some of the NFL’s top wide receivers, Smith arrives in Baltimore with a nontraditional background.

Smith is best known around the NFL as a pass-rush instructor for some of the league’s top defenders, including the Los Angeles Rams’ Aaron Donald, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Cam Heyward, Buffalo Bills’ Von Miller and Raiders’ Maxx Crosby.

“If quarterback is the most important position, [the player] stopping him, a pass rusher, must be the second most,” Smith, known as “Dr. Rush,” told Sports Illustrated last year.

In Baltimore, he’ll work with an outside linebacker group led by veteran Tyus Bowser and two recent first-round picks, Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo. Justin Houston, who led the team in sacks last season, is a pending free agent.

Smith previously served as the New York Jets’ pass-rush specialist in 2009, the University of Tennessee’s defensive line coach in 2010 and as a Bill Walsh Coaching Fellow for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2015. He also worked as a training camp consult for the Ravens in 2008.

Smith, who led Tennessee and the Southeastern Conference in sacks in 1991, was a second-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 1992. Over 125 games (89 starts) with the Falcons and Carolina Panthers, he had 322 tackles, 58 1/5 sacks and 20 forced fumbles. In 1997, he had 12 sacks and earned second-team All-Pro honors.

jonas.shaffer@thebaltimorebanner.com