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Ravens Insider: Beau Brade dreamed of playing for the Ravens. Now he’s ‘gotta make the most of it.’


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As Beau Brade was midway through his news conference Friday, Kyle Hamilton and Nelson Agholor briefly interrupted. The undrafted rookie was meeting with the media for the first time as a Raven, and his two teammates used the moment to briefly tease and distract the newcomer.

“Beau Brade!” Hamilton said.

“Hometown kid!” Agholor shouted.

Brade, a Howard County native and former Terp, was the only undrafted player to make Baltimore’s 53-man roster after Tuesday’s cuts. It was a dream for Brade, who attended Ravens games as a child, has fond memories of Super Bowl 47 and played with the team in the “Madden” video game.

“It’s a dream,” Brade said. “Every kid around here, you dreamed to be on the Ravens.”

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta approached Brade after Monday’s practice to tell him the news. DeCosta pulled Brade to the side, made quick talk about how camp was going, then informed him his impressive showing this summer was being rewarded.

Later, Brade relayed that to his parents: “They started crying,” he said.

Brade stood out in training camp and three preseason games to force a choice on team decision-makers. He thought he put himself in a position to make the club but kept his hopes from growing too high. Ultimately, Baltimore opted to keep five safeties on the roster.

“My mindset going into it was not to get too high on it,” said Brade, who changed his jersey number from 6 to 24 after making the roster. “I didn’t want to have any expectations. In the preseason, I played the best I could have played. I left everything out there.”

Baltimore Ravens rookie safety Beau Brade during practice at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills, Maryland. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)
Ravens rookie safety Beau Brade changed his jersey number from 6 to 24 after making the 53-man roster. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

The safety was a Howard County Times Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at River Hill, then enjoyed a stellar four-year career with the Terps. Despite leading defenses that were near the top of the Big Ten and receiving all-conference honorable mention twice, Brade went undrafted.

He landed with his hometown squad. The Ravens have been one of the NFL’s best teams at identifying talented undrafted players — Brade’s defensive coordinator Zach Orr was once one of them.

“He did it the hard way. He earned it,” coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s a meritocracy. You got to go out and you’ve got to earn everything. That’s a beautiful thing.”

Brade was confident he’d get drafted last April. Instead, for the first time at any level of football, he was overlooked. Those expectations not coming to fruition reset how Brade thought of himself entering this summer in Baltimore, turning him into someone who felt he needed to prove himself, unlike anything he’d had to do before.

But that set the safety up for an impressive showing that earned him a coveted roster spot. Brade couldn’t stop gushing about the opportunity Friday. How this was a dream come true, memories of the team from his youth and other platitudes spilled from his mouth in front of the microphone.

Eventually he stopped, gathered his thoughts and ended his run-on diatribe — “Been a great experience,” he said with a smile. Now, proving the Ravens made the right choice begins.

“It’s been better than I could have ever expected,” Brade said. “Gotta make the most of it.”

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