Baltimore Beatdown
Freeing up their most dynamic and disruptive weapon on defense should be a priority this offseason.
Heading into the 2024 season, the Baltimore Ravens boasted arguably the most loaded secondary in the entire NFL on paper. They were expected to be among the league’s stingiest pass defenses with safety Kyle Hamilton as the dynamic centerpiece fresh off a First Team All Pro season but were anything put through the first 10 games.
The injury to veteran nickel corner Arthur Maulet coupled with the underperformance of veteran safeties Marcus Williams and Eddie caused them to spend more than half of the season ranked dead last in pass defense. While they faced a gauntlet of multi-time Pro Bowl quarterbacks and elite wide receivers during that span, they were consistently giving up big plays through the air to stars and scrubs alike.
To stop the bleeding and stabilize their coverage, the Ravens released Jackson, benched Williams, inserted fourth-year pro Ar’Darius Washington into the starting lineup and deployed Hamilton into a more traditional safety role. The transition for the 2022 first-rounder meant he spent more time roaming the backend to limit big plays by the opposing offense and less time up near the line of scrimmage creating big plays for his defense.
From Week 11 through their premature playoff exit, the Ravens pass defense lived up to its preseason hype and was the stingiest unit in the league, allowing an average of just 175.3 passing yards a game after giving up nearly 294.9 yards through the air per game prior to making the personnel change.
Hamilton proved he could be just as impactful as a stabilizing force in a traditional role as he was a disruptive playmaker in the hybrid nickel role that made him a household name during his first two years in the league.
“I think we definitely saw a different type of performance from Kyle this year, but if you look at overall how our defense blossomed with him back there, I think it was worthwhile,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said. “Did he make as many splash plays? Probably not, but I’d take the improvement in the defense rather than Kyle making splash plays and us not being very good on defense.”
After letting former late-round gem Geno Stone walk in free agency last offseason after he led the team and AFC with a career-high seven interceptions, the Ravens failed to properly replace him with a natural free safety type. His absence and inability of Jackson to fill that void limited their defense to a degree in terms of how diverse they could be when it comes to creative and deceptive coverages and blitz packages that were commonplace under Mike Macdonald from 2022-2023 because Hamilton was able to be used in a multitude of ways and wasn’t absolutely needed in the backend most of the time.
Even though he wasn’t able to do what he does more often down the stretch, Hamilton still had a great season. He was voted...
