The Baltimore Ravens’ secondary enters the 2025 season ranked as the best in the NFL.
Last year, PFF’s John Kosko ranked the Baltimore Ravens’ secondary entering the 2024 season as the fourth-best in the NFL on account of Marlon Humphrey, Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Williams, who Kosko (among many others, including myself) cited as “one of the league’s best deep free safeties for several years. That unit — namely Williams — didn’t produce to such level, ranking No. 32 as a pass defense.
The story’s been told ad-nauseum this season and offseason. The Ravens’ benched Williams in favor of Ar’Darius Washington and propelled themselves to the best in the NFL following Week 11.
Now, with Williams gone, first-round safety Malaki Starks added to the back end and both Chidobe Awuzie and Jaire Alexander added to the cornerback room, Kosko has the Ravens entering the 2025 season as the No. 1 unit in the NFL.
“The Ravens added PFF’s ninth-highest-graded cornerback from a year ago, Jaire Alexander, this offseason to pair with the NFL’s seventh-highest-graded cornerback, Marlon Humphrey,” Kosko wrote. “They also drafted Malaki Starks, PFF’s top-ranked safety in the 2025 NFL Draft, to join the league’s best safety, Kyle Hamilton. While safety Ar’Darius Washington suffered a torn Achilles tendon in May and is likely to miss the entire 2025 season, Baltimore’s philosophy of drafting the best player available has given the unit tremendous depth, assuming Starks lives up to his draft status. Don’t forget the Ravens selected Nate Wiggins in the first round of the 2024 draft and signed Chidobe Awuzie in free agency. This is a secondary that could be extremely difficult to throw against in 2025.”
The Ravens’ defense drastically changed last season. And if they can begin anywhere near where they closed out last season, they should be a mighty force in 2025.