Baltimore Ravens: The resurgence of Tavon Young

After missing the entire 2017 season, Tavon Young looks to regain his rookie season form and play a key role in a stacked Ravens secondary.

After a standout rookie reason in 2016, cornerback Tavon Young looked poised to become one of the league’s top nickel defensive backs. The fourth round pick out of Temple played like he was worth a first round selection and seemed as if Ozzie Newsome had found another day three gem.

Young was criticized because of his small build (5’9″ 185-lbs.). Many analysts believed that he was to small to be productive enough at the next level. In his lone season, Young seemingly proved them wrong. He plays a very aggressive style of football: a hands in your face, physical type of back. Young simply plays much bigger than his size. Seeing action in all sixteen games, starting in eleven, Young finished with two interceptions, forty-one tackles, and eight passes defended.

But after an ACL tear while attempting to intercept a pass in practice in 2017, Young had his sophomore season derailed. Days after the injury occurred, Young sent out this tweet:

Using the entire 2017 season to recover and rehab, Young was eager to get back out onto the field for this season. It was easy to see that immediately as Young began the 2018 campaign with a very solid OTA and training camp. Young didn’t miss a beat and looked determined to get right back into the thick of the action come opening day.

If his training camp wasn’t evident enough of this determination, Tavon Young made it very easy to see on Sunday that he is well past the injury and is ready to pick up where he left off in his rookie season. Young was flying around the field Sunday, wreaking havoc on the Bills offense. Of all people it was Young who recorded the Ravens’ first sack of the season, as he burst through the middle and put Nathan Peterman on his back. Later in the game, Young again got close and personal with Peterman as he recorded his second sack of the afternoon.

Not only was he a force in the pass rush, but also in coverage. Young had only one pass defense, but he held tight coverage all game and made life difficult for Peterman over the middle of the field. In a game where the Ravens secondary played lights out, Young received a coverage grade of 80.0 and allowed a passer rating of 56.3 against in Sunday’s game, according to Pro Football Focus.

Tavon Young is hoping to have a healthy and productive 2018 season. If Sunday’s performance against the Bills was any hint of what Young has in store for this season, Ravens fans should be excited and keep an eye on number 25 all year long.