Why the Ravens secondary was fool’s gold coming into season
The Baltimore Ravens secondary was supposed to be a strength. What happened?
The Baltimore Ravens secondary was supposed to be a strength of the 53 man roster this season. One of the problems for the secondary has been injuries. The loss of Tavon Young for the season and the lengthy sidelining of Jimmy Smith has been problematic. The secondary was supposed to be elite though, so this doesn’t explain the full story.
On paper the Ravens were loaded with defensive backs. Marlon Humphrey has lived up to the billing while other players have not. The elite safety combination of Earl Thomas III and Tony Jefferson hasn’t yielded good results so far. Brandon Carr has an impressive resume however this has been a bad season for the veteran cornerback. If Carr and Jefferson were playing at a level worthy of their reputation, the Ravens pass defense wouldn’t be this bad.
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The thought process coming into the season was that the addition of Thomas would make Tony Jefferson a more dangerous safety. Thomas was supposed to give the defense the range and the ball hawking ability to allow Jefferson to be more of a box safety. That hasn’t happened. So far, this looks like a false narrative.
So you have two things going on here other than injuries. You have players who are supposed to be better than they are playing. Secondly, you have players not gelling together in this defense; at least it’s not coming together the way it was thought they would. Then you have the injuries. The injuries are a big part of the problem, it’s just important to remember that’s not the only reason for this mess.
The Tavon Young injury is the biggest factor in this equation. When Anthony Averett was just one of many cornerbacks on the roster he was thought of as a young player with potential. Without Young and with Averett’s responsibilities elevated, he is exposed as a raw player who needs on the job training. The players that have put the most hurt on this defense have done a lot of it in the slot. It’s no wonder why Christian Kirk, Mecole Hardman and Jarvis Landry have had so many big days.
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The Ravens secondary should be better than it has been. The good news is that with some adjustments it can be improved a bit. The good news is also that this is early in the season and Jimmy Smith’s eventual return will help dramatically. The one thing that is for sure, the elite secondary the Ravens were supposed to have was fool’s gold.