After last season the projected top 10 secondary of the Baltimore Ravens finished FIRST in Passing yards allowed per game(according to Statmuse) at 293 yards per game, 13 yards higher than the 2nd place Seattle Seahawks. Due to the Ravens being hurt by injuries in the backend, they could have gone into the offseason standing pat with their secondary, banking on good health, and nobody would have complained. But they didn’t.
At the start of free agency, the Ravens went after the top Safety on the market, former Saint, Marcus Williams. The 25 year old who finished last season with 74 tackles and 2 interceptions inked a five-year 70 million dollar deal with the Baltimore Ravens. After that signing, the Ravens could have been comfortable and excited with their newly improved secondary, but again, they weren’t.
Entering draft night, the Baltimore Ravens seemed likely to take the best available, at a draft position they were unexpected to have entering the season. The 14th pick was projected to produce great talent in a highly talented and deep draft class at most positions not named quarterback. On the other hand, Kyle Hamilton entered draft night as the freak athlete, ballhawk, superstar safety from Notre Dame, who was top 5 on Every. Single. Big board. It seemed highly unlikely that these two would be paired on draft night, besides all the tweets from Raven fans that had the two names paired while discussing their “dream draft pick.”
What once seemed unlikely, started to become more of a possibility pick by pick, every Ravens fan in the world inching closer to the edge of their seat as a projected top 5 talent started to slip for no other reason than the position he played. And then a pick before the Ravens, a trade happens, and at this point almost every Ravens fan left the edge of their seat and started to panic. Panic because surely the Philadelphia Eagles were trading up to the 13 spot to get a talent that could not slip any further, but he did. The Eagles selected another athletic freak in Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis, and a sigh of relief came over Ravens fans. Not because they didn’t want Jordan Davis, but because potentially the best talent in the draft, who also happened to play a position of need fell into their lap. A front office who seems to win the draft year after year was about to strike gold, again.
Now this might seem like hyperbole, and that’s because it is. As of right now anyway, but what if, just what if Kyle Hamilton becomes the player so many believe he can be? How good can this Ravens secondary be? Seattle Seahawks LOB level? Questions that for right now are unanswered, but will soon be answered in just a couple more months.
Newly signed Safety Marcus Williams, All Pro corners Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters, and now newly drafted Safety Kyle Hamilton. Is there a better secondary in football? On paper it seems unlikely. A secondary that was decimated by injuries and opposing offenses last year is now primed and ready to be one of the best units in all of the sport. In the AFC that is stacked with proficient passing games and elite quarterback talents, the Ravens made moves to give themselves a chance to not only contain, but lock down every single one of them.