ExtremeRavens Posted August 27 Posted August 27 Jay Higgins IV was sitting at lunch with fellow Ravens linebacker Jake Hummel and center Tyler Linderbaum on Tuesday afternoon in Owings Mills when he felt a tap on his shoulder in the team’s dining room. He was being summoned upstairs to see general manager Eric DeCosta. With roster cuts looming, the undrafted rookie free agent out of Iowa thought that he was going to meet his football Azrael, so he started to feel lightheaded. As he walked down the hall, his heart rate kept “rising and rising,” he said. When he walked into DeCosta’s office, it “really started beating.” Undrafted free agent cornerback Keyon Martin had also gotten a tap on the shoulder to head upstairs. “Heart was racing a little bit,” he said. “Everybody know about those tough conversations. Thought that’s what I was going up there for.” But when undrafted free agent rookie safety Reuben Lowery — who at one point in the spring was competing with Martin for a potential nickel role — passed Martin on the stairs, their smiles told their fates. Without a word, each knew the other had survived and, along with Higgins, beat the odds to make it on Baltimore’s initial 53-man roster. “It’s definitely unusual,” coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday about three undrafted free agents landing on a roster replete with first-round picks and All-Pro talent. “When it comes right down to it, it comes down to what you do on the field.” In that way, there was little argument, even for a team expected to contend for a Super Bowl. Higgins stood out this summer with an interception of Colts quarterback Riley Leonard in Baltimore’s preseason opener, then followed with a team-high six tackles and a strip-sack the next week against the Cowboys. Martin, meanwhile, recorded a safety with a sack of Cowboys quarterback Joe Milton III and last week against the Commanders returned an interception for a touchdown. And Lowery has consistently had his nose around the football since the spring, including on an interception against the Cowboys. But it was the plays big and small that caught coaches’ attention all summer. “He’s really instinctive, high football IQ,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said of Higgins, perplexed that the All-American out of Iowa didn’t get drafted. “A lot of linebackers now got moved to linebacker late in college or his first time playing the position was in college. He’s been a linebacker basically his whole life. So, he understands how to read linemen, read pulls, understands zone drops, man drops, spacing in coverage. “He was a great player in college. His resume speaks for itself, he should have been drafted, but measurables probably knocked him down. He’s definitely athletic enough [and] fast enough to play at this level.” For Martin, who had to wait for the Ravens to invite him for a tryout before he could even sign after the draft when no one else called, the path was longer and more challenging for the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Louisiana alumnus by way of Football Championship Subdivision Youngstown State. Ravens defensive back Keyon Martin made the team's 53-man roster despite going undrafted out of college. He's one of three rookies to make the Ravens' team despite not being a draft pick. (Kim Hairston/Staff) Yet, Harbaugh’s notes that he scribbled down detailed the appeal: “No hesitation player, a player that can process accurately and quickly and then without hesitation and can go respond and show up where he’s supposed to show up on time or ahead of time.” When it came to Lowery, there were even fewer doubts. “From Day 1, he was asking all the right questions,” senior secondary coach Chuck Pagano said. “He takes care of himself; he takes care of his body. He’s not going to be one of those guys that walks out on the field and is not prepared and doesn’t know what he’s going to do.” Still, there were few openings and tough decisions that had to be made in trimming down the roster from 89 players. There was also belief — evident by some of the Ravens’ surprising cuts as much as who they kept. Twenty-seven years ago, DeCosta was just a lowly personnel assistant in Baltimore and Priest Holmes an undrafted free agent running back who’d spent much of his college career at Texas behind Ricky Williams. While Williams went on to win the Heisman Trophy and be selected fifth overall by the New Orleans Saints in 1999, Holmes had gone undrafted in 1997. Holmes signed with the Ravens, topped 1,000 rushing yards after winning the starting job in his second year and went on to star for the Kansas City Chiefs, where he was a three-time All-Pro and twice led the NFL in rushing touchdowns and in 2001 led the league in rushing yards. Ravens safety Reuben Lowery speaks with the media after practice Wednesday. Lowery made the team's 53-man roster as an undrafted free agent. (Kevin Richardson/Staff) Fast forward to Wednesday, and it’s easy to understand the hopeful retrospection. “We really are just hoping to hit on one guy every year,” DeCosta said of the undrafted free agent class. “We probably had five guys, legitimately, that we thought had a chance to be on this team that were undrafted this year. “So, it was a great year.” Time will tell, but Higgins, Martin and Lowery understandably fell into the general manager’s arms for a warm if not relieved embrace when DeCosta delivered the news in his office Tuesday afternoon. “I had a long night last night!” Higgins said before doubling over. “Heart racing man!” said Martin, smile stretched wide, head back, when DeCosta asked if he was nervous. The emotion from each of their parents was even more palpable when they phoned them to let them know the news. Higgins’ dad Roy, who became a social media celebrity during his son’s college days, shared the Ravens’ video of the exchange on the family group text. Martin’s mom Kimarya exclaimed, “Yes! Oh my God!” Lowery’s father Reuben II started calling family members. Their ascendence was also validating, to them when no other teams called, and to the Ravens when they did. “We didn’t expect it for sure,” DeCosta said. “I think these guys, just when you think about the games, I mean you look at those guys and look at what they did, the production, the big plays and just the consistency. How could they not be on the team? “It just became abundantly clear that these were talented players that for whatever reason were overlooked by the entire league, including us, and deserved to be on teams and who can help us be our best.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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