The Baltimore Ravens announced that Ladarius Webb’s week 17 move to the free safety position is a serious position change. Webb, who played free safety in college gives the Ravens an interesting outlook in the back-end of the defense.
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The Ravens defense has a crowded cast at the safety positions. Will Hill is the starting strong safety; his position is the only one locked up going into 2016. If the Ravens were really thrilled about Kendrick Lewis they would not be experimenting with Webb at his position. Forget about Matt Elam, who has done nothing but disappoint since being the Ravens first round pick in 2013.
Webb will compete with Lewis and Terrance Brooks for the starting job at free safety. It seems likely that the Ravens are hoping that Webb can take the job and make big plays. They’re invested in Webb on a personal and financial level as he has been a key player with the Ravens since 2009.
Webb played decently enough in week 17 to give us some confidence in this transition. The 30-year-old defensive back can stop chasing receivers and start keeping them in front of him. At this point in his career, this is the perfect situation for Webb to rejuvenate his career.
Webb’s move to free safety means the Ravens have to replace a starting cornerback; that being said we already knew this team needed corners. I’m all for the Ravens changing things up in the secondary. If you look at the past two seasons it is hard to imagine that it could get worse.
Webb had a good run as a Ravens cornerback. He has 12 career interceptions. It should also be noted that he could very well end up playing cornerback again if he is needed to.
It is obvious that the Ravens miss having a ball hawk in the back-end of their defense. From 2002-2012 the Ravens had the greatest one of all time in Ed Reed. By putting Webb back there, the Ravens are trying to increase their interception totals. Kendrick Lewis got no picks this season and Webb has the requisite ball skills.
It will be interesting to watch this unfold. In hindsight it seems like the Lewis signing was just an affordable hack at solving the Ravens problems. I wonder if Webb’s position change will be looked at in the same light, this time next year?