Richard Bradshaw: DeShon Elliott
The Baltimore Ravens opted to move on from future Hall of fame safety Eric Weddle this off-season. They seamlessly replaced, if not upgraded, over him with the addition of another future Hall of Fame safety in Earl Thomas. Across from Tony Jefferson, Baltimore possesses perhaps the best safety duo in the entire league.
Even after those two the depth is impressive. Anthony Levine remains the best Co-Cap in the league, and is an overlooked aspect as to what makes this defense so great. Levine’s ability to play as both a defensive back and a linebacker makes him indispensable for the Ravens.
Baltimore is undoubtedly spoiled with riches at the safety position. Just those three alone should make teams shudder. But it gets better, as second-year man DeShon Elliott is the next-man up and could serve a big-role in 2019.
Many fans believed that he could’ve supplanted Levine for the top-spot as the team’s third safety and moving Levine into a more permanent role at linebacker. Alas, it was not meant to be. Elliott was on his way to a monster preseason in 2018 before he broke his forearm and subsequently missed his entire rookie season.
Elliott was known as a play-maker and ball-hawk during his days at the University of Texas, and it appeared that it would translate to his professional career. Now that he’s fully healthy, It’ll be intriguing to see if he can recreate last preseason’s success into this season. If he can, we may see a lot of DeShon Elliott during the 2019 regular season.