Reports: Ravens To Sign Safety Tony Jefferson

According to reports, the Baltimore Ravens have agreed to terms with strong safety Tony Jefferson. This is a big move for the Ravens defense.

Assuming the Ravens seal the deal tomorrow, this is a huge move. The Baltimore Ravens secondary has been a work in progress for a number of years. Last year the purple and black welcomed Eric Weddle to Baltimore, this year the Ravens welcome another elite safety. When this deal is official, the Ravens will officially have the best duo at the safety positions.

Jefferson is a fast safety who is a ferocious tackler. While Jefferson is a strong safety, the important thing to remember is now the Ravens have two star safeties for their defense. Weddle will most likely move over to free safety. Normally the strong safety is the enforcer, the hammer coming down from the secondary in the tackle box. In this duo, we have two enforcers with range.

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The Ravens still need to address the cornerback position, but the secondary is wildly behooved in this move. The Ravens having veteran safeties, with a knack for making plays doesn’t bode well for the rest of the AFC North. It does make life easier for Jimmy Smith and Tavon Young at the cornerback spot. If the Ravens add a cornerback in a widely considered heavenly cornerback draft class, the secondary is going to be really good for once.

While the Ravens have other needs and they will miss two of their top free agents next year, this was a fantastic move. The Ravens faithful have had a rough time watching the action for everyone else. We have to give credit to Ozzie Newsome and company when it is due. This was a big time move.

The Bottom Line:

The Ravens defense ranked in the top 10 all season in 2016. Dean Pees had a ton of problems to deal with. There was not enough pass rush coming off the edge, Jimmy Smith was off and on injured and Shareece Wright was a rough sight on the football field. The defense deserves a ton of blame for letting the Steelers come back and steal the AFC North crown from Baltimore. Though, to be fair, the defense was the only reason the Ravens won eight games.

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Now the defense is on the way to getting even better. If the Ravens add another cornerback and a pass rusher, they could have a dominant defense. Expect Lardarius Webb getting cut to be the next move on the Ravens agenda. It’s simple math that the long time cornerback, who converted to free safety is now going to be a cap casualty. The Ravens defense just replaced an injury prone aging safety in Webb, with a rising star who is only 25 years old. This is a huge move by the Ravens, assuming these reports are true.