Why the Baltimore Ravens are smart to limit Geno Stone's snaps

Geno Stone has not been the same player for the Baltimore Ravens since they brought back Marcus Williams from his injury. When Williams was injured, the Ravens got to play Geno Stone deep in the free safety role, but when Williams came back, they tried to move Stone into the box more, and it did not go well. 

The Baltimore Ravens limited how much Geno Stone was playing in the Divisional Playoffs

Stone saw his ball production drop, and his coverage busts and missed tackles increased. It has caused the Ravens to decrease his snaps, both in the box and overall. Stone started this week but missed another tackle in the box. 

So, the team started to limit his snaps again by playing Arthur Maulet in the slot and Kyle Hamilton as the strong safety. While Stone did see his snaps drop closer to 60-70% to close out the season, the Ravens played him a season-low 57% of the snaps this week. His season low in snaps coming into the playoffs was 47, and he played just 24 snaps this week.

Still, it may have paid off. He was in that role when he made a game-changing play on a flea-flicker in the second half. It ended a key Texans drive and got the Ravens the ball back to put the game away. This was sone of the best plays we have seen from Stone in weeks. 

This may be for the best for Stone. He is not playing full games, but when he is on the field, he is in a position where he can be at his best, and he is now making plays again. 

The Baltimore Ravens will probably have to move on from Stone because he cannot play well with Marcus Williams. However, they have to love that they have a starting caliber free safety taking over a role as a rotational third safety.