Ravens DC Shares Potential Plans To Strengthen Secondary

In the second half of last season when the Ravens were forced to make personnel and schematic changes, Hamilton proved he could shine just as bright in a more traditional safety role even though he wasn’t able to make nearly as many splash plays in the box and near the line of scrimmage.

“A lot of the explosive plays went away because quarterbacks didn’t want to throw the ball with him back there,” Orr said. “He covers a lot of ground and got us communicated well (and) got us lined up right.”

Hamilton is the kind of versatile chess piece that adapts to whoever he is playing with and can perform whatever is asked of him at an elite level. The Ravens would like to get back to being able to come up with ways to get him closer to the ball before the snap because Orr said he is one of their most effective blitzers and a great tackler in space.

“But you also want him to do stuff in the backend as well because he covers a lot of ground and has good ball skills,” Orr said. “He is one of the easiest guys to figure out how to put him in the best position because he’s never in a bad position.”

Hamilton isn’t the only member of the Ravens secondary with a dynamic skill set and can dominate in a multifaceted role. Four-time Pro Bowl veteran cornerback Marlon Humphrey is coming off arguably the best season of his career in which he played both inside and on the outside at an elite level. It resulted in him earning the second First Team All Pro honors of his career with the slot designation.

While adding another safety is high up on the Ravens' remaining needs list post-free agency, bringing in another starting-caliber cornerback to free up Humphrey arguably tops it. Orr said it is an area they “definitely” view in a similar light as far as what they’re looking for at the position.

“I think a third safety and a third corner is real valuable positions,” Orr said. “Especially in our system just from the standpoint that it allows our guys to move around freely and allows them to be able to move around based on the opponent that we’re playing.”

Having multiple players who are the football equivalent of multiple queens on a chess board meaning they can be moved around in a multitude of ways makes the entire unit all the more dangerous.

“That’s the beauty of how Eric and those guys have built this team,” Orr said. “We have a lot of versatile players, not guys that can only play one position which makes it great for us as coaches.”

Depending on how the board falls on the first night of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Ravens could have their pick of a trio of versatile defensive backs available to them at No. 27 overall. A few prospects to monitor who are ideal fits for what they're looking for are Georgia safety Malaki Starks and two of the top corners from the SEC the past few years in Texas' Jahdae Barron and Kentucky's Maxwell Hairston, both of whom had strong showings at the NFL Combine this year.