Jimmy Smith’s return set to take Ravens defense over the top

Ravens Flock has seen how great cornerback Jimmy Smith is and they know how great the defense is with him. Now it’s time to add him to the 2018 equation.

When healthy, it’s inherently obvious that Jimmy Smith is among the best-of-the-best across the league when comparing cornerbacks. Smith has it all: size, length, speed, skill-set, mindset, you name it. Jimmy Smith, if he was even just a little bit faster, was made in a lab designed around creating the perfect no.1 cornerback for an NFL team. Unfortunately, that lab forgot to provide Smith with health and common sense (at times).

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Now returning from a four-game suspension, Jimmy Smith will see his first action of 2018 against the Cleveland Browns and 2018 no.1 overall pick Baker Mayfield. We all know that Smith has to be licking his chops at the thought of playing his season debut against a rookie quarterback, but fans should be excited as well.

Yes, Jimmy Smith is tremendous and it’s hard not to get excited about having him back in the line-up, but the Baltimore Ravens defense was already performing at a high-level without him. To some, this may make Smith expendable. For future purposes, this could very well be true, but in 2018 this becomes a luxury that could take the Ravens defense over the top.

Baltimore has received all sorts of great play across the board from their cornerbacks. Marlon Humphrey continues to look as good as advertised in his sophomore season, while veteran Brandon Carr remains steady and looks even more improved in year-two in Charm City. Adding Smith back into the mix doesn’t seem fair to the rest of the league.

Too bad for them.

From elite to elite-er:

The Baltimore Ravens defense is already playing at a borderline elite level in 2018, to include top five performances in PPG (16.2), 3rd Down% (28%), Passing YPG (193.2), and Passer Rating (69.1). Don’t forget, this defense also has not allowed a touchdown in the second-half of any game so far this year. It’s truly hard to believe that the Ravens defense can legitimately improve with all those impressive stats, and yet it’s entirely possible with Jimmy Smith returning to the secondary.

There are very few players in the NFL that can take something great and make it even better, and Jimmy Smith has shown to be that kind of player for Baltimore. The fact that the Ravens have proven they can remain this good without Smith is remarkable, so it simply opens so many new avenues for how much better the team’s defense can get with him returning.

Imagine if you took the Golden State Warriors roster and then added Kevin Durant to it. At that point, you’re adding elite talent to an elite team. It’s putting a hat on a hat.

So, now Baltimore returns one of their best players on the entire roster to make a strength even stronger. Don’t be fooled, this Ravens defense is nowhere near flawless, but it’s hard to think it’s not with the return of Smith. With the way the team has been playing, maybe 12 games is all he’ll need to finally earn his first Pro Bowl nod. The team doesn’t need him to do this with how everyone else has played, but no one would be complaining, of course.

The rich get richer with Jimmy Smith’s comeback to Baltimore. A great secondary becomes even better, and the Ravens as a whole continue to improve as a whole. A 3-1 record doesn’t give enough credit to how complete and how well this team has fared thus far in 2018, but perhaps Smith’s return will put that exclamation point on the type of performance Baltimore has put together this season.