ExtremeRavens Posted 20 hours ago Posted 20 hours ago On paper, the Ravens might have the best secondary in the NFL. It’s a defensive backfield loaded with Swiss Army knives, chess pieces and all the other clichés about versatile pass disruptors that help explain five first-round picks in the same secondary: Marlon Humphrey, Kyle Hamilton, Jaire Alexander, Nate Wiggins and Malaki Starks. After a tumultuous start to last season, defensive coordinator Zach Orr said, “We’re light-years ahead of where we were at.” As fortified as Baltimore’s secondary appears, it’s also one injury away from having to trot out an unproven backup. The injuries — although minor — are already piling up one week into training camp and a day into padded practices. Alexander missed Monday’s practice, needing to get some swelling drained from his knee, according to coach John Harbaugh. The two-time Pro Bowl selection should be back to practice on Tuesday. Jalyn Armour-Davis, who would have been one of the first cornerbacks off the bench, missed Monday’s practice with a lower-body injury. He’s scheduled to get an MRI, Harbaugh said, but the hope is it’s “nothing too serious.” Rookie cornerback Bilhal Kone left practice early on Saturday with a shoulder injury. Harbaugh believes it’s a minor setback, but his return will be based on pain tolerance. And veteran Chidobe Awuzie appeared to not take live reps on Friday or Saturday before returning to practice Monday. “I think it might’ve been Ozzie [Newsome], I think he said, ‘You can never have too many DBs.’ I feel like for every team at some point in the year, it seems like everybody’s thin at DB,” Hamilton said this offseason. The Ravens are starting to feel it in July. But at full strength, they should boast among the best groups in the league. Hamilton returns as one of the top safeties in the league, and Humphrey is coming off arguably the best season of his eight-year career at cornerback. Those two have four combined All-Pro selections. They’re complemented by Wiggins, the rising sophomore cornerback poised for a breakout year, and Starks, a 2025 first-round draft pick with the maturity and tools to be an immediate starter at safety. Baltimore will be without safety Ar’Darius Washington (Achilles) until at least November. Training camp will shed some clarity on — if there are setbacks during the season — who might get the call. The safety battle should draw more eyes because of how quickly either Beau Brade or Sanoussi Kane might have to fill in, each vying for the No. 3 spot behind Hamilton and Starks with Washington still on the shelf. Last season, the Ravens cycled through Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson before landing on Washington. So nothing is guaranteed in center field. The cornerback depth chart is a bit more crowded — all floating on the same life raft, trying to make the 53-man roster. Armour-Davis is the senior-most option. He had a nice pass breakup and an interception during the first week of camp before the pads came on. Armour-Davis is going into Year 4, coming off a season in which he appeared in seven games with two starts. Injuries have hindered his development, but there have been flashes if he can get healthy. August is a big month for TJ Tampa Jr., too. The 2024 fourth-round pick missed the majority of his rookie season with an ankle injury. Like the failed Williams and Jackson experiments, the Ravens never got consistent play from Tre’Davious White or Brandon Stephens last year. Tampa made financial investments in his own health this offseason. He told The Baltimore Sun that, in addition to extra post-practice yoga and tub recovery, he bought a sauna and Normatec boots to have at home. “This year is definitely gonna be different with my preparation,” he said. Ravens secondary coach Chuck Pagano, right, has a deep but relatively inexperienced unit to work with. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) When the Ravens hired secondary coach Chuck Pagano, Tampa and Brade were two of the first young guys to blow up his phone seeking advice. Orr said Pagano gave those guys “a deep, detailed summary.” Reuben Lowery could prove to be the training camp surprise. He’s on the fringe to make the final 53-man roster, likely closer to the outside than the inside. But the undrafted rookie profiles as another versatile back, having played corner, nickel and safety at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. Harbaugh noticed Lowery flying around, too. “He’s ‘all ball’ every day,” Harbaugh said. “He’s a very smart player. He is doing a nice job.” Thus, this secondary becomes a quasi-positional battle to follow through the preseason. Not for who might start, but for who might be forced to fill in to a defense with lofty expectations. “We didn’t like what we did last year, especially the first half of the season,” Orr said. “And we made a vow that we wouldn’t do that again. So, we know that’s just words. We have to put action behind it. But so far, throughout the spring and this first week of training camp, the action’s been real good, so I’m happy with the group.” Hamilton thinks Starks is further along now than he was as a rookie. The group is feeding off Alexander’s confident vibes and “weird” energy. Wiggins has had a productive start to camp. And Humphrey, the spokesman of the defensive turnaround, said teammates are “really running to the ball like it means something.” Much of Orr’s plans for this season hinge on the flexibility of a dynamic secondary — guys who can play all over the field to mess with a quarterback’s reads. That approach might shift should there be an injury. Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta took two more cornerbacks in the draft. It was the one position the reticent DeCosta admitted he’d be prioritizing. “Corner is a critical, important position,” he said back in March. “They break down. They’re like Bugattis.” Enter, sixth-round picks Kone and Robert Longerbeam. Both entered training camp as bubble guys who will spend every day fighting to stick around. Neither will be guaranteed a roster spot but could stay in Baltimore with a practice squad invitation. In a matter of a year, the discourse flipped from a secondary in the basement of the league to Alexander saying after a few practices, “Defenses win championships, so I’m in the right place to do that.” It will just be a matter of staying healthy. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. View the full article Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.