Ravens Must Re-Sign Breakout Safety

With 20 players set to hit free agency in a matter of weeks, the Baltimore Ravens have a busy offseason ahead of them to say the least.

It's only natural that some, possibly most, of those players won't return next season, especially with Baltimore not having a ton of cap space. However, a few of them are essential to the Ravens' success, and they should do everything in their power to retain them.

Of those players, few, if any, stand out more than safety Ar'Darius Washington.

A fourth-year pro, Washington finally got his chance to shine after dealing with injuries in his first three seasons. He saw a decent amount of action early in the year, but really began to shine when he entered the starting lineup around the halfway point. In total, he finished the year with 64 total tackles, eight passes defended and two interceptions.

Not so coincidentally, the Ravens' defense drastically improved around the same time Washington entered the starting lineup, going from one of the worst in the league to one of the best. He made for an excellent complement to All-Pro Kyle Hamilton, and was an standout defender in his own right.

With Washington set to hit free agency in March, the Ravens know how important it is to keep him around.

"Ar'Darius is a great example of a guy who got a chance and ran with it," general manager Eric DeCosta told reporters Wednesday. "I'll go back to his draft class year, [and] he went undrafted because he was a step slow [and] he's a couple inches smaller. And we got him, and we were excited when we got him as an undrafted free agent, because he was a great football player.

"Then the question really becomes, 'Can he do the same thing at our level that he did at the college level?' ... This year, he stayed healthy, and he became that guy that we saw in college. [He's] tough, physical, a playmaker, instinctive, smart, a leader. [He's a] great story. Just another one of these undrafted guys over the years that we've had that has developed into being a really good football player. We're proud of him."

Fortunately, Washington will be a restricted free agent in March, so the Ravens have the right of first refusal over any other team. In all likelihood, he will be back in Baltimore for another go around.