Stock Up: CB Brandon Stephens and Ronald Darby
Following a preseason in which he transitioned from cornerback to safety after spending years dealing with wideouts, the never-ending string of injuries affecting Ravens cornerbacks forced Stephens and the franchise to bring him back to his natural corner position.
And oh boy did he put on a show on Sunday. Stephens appeared in all 77 snaps, completed 11 tackles, and although his ball skills proved to be terrible for the nth time, it is also very true that not a lot of CBs can stick so close to their main coverages as BS does, limiting their production after the catch.
In similarly positive news, veteran CB Ronald Darby showed no rust at all after suffering an ACL injury last season that cut his year short barely a month into the 2022 campaign.
Darby got 69 snaps, tackled seven foes, deflected one pass, and was great in zone coverage on Sunday stopping opponents three times for no gain.
Head Coach John Harbaug said on Monday "We have a good guy in Rock who got in there late," and he still thinks Ya-Sin will be "a lot stronger this week so we'll have a chance to roll our guys in."
Until he proves it, though, this secondary looks like it belongs to Stephens and Darby with Humphrey an insta-starter when available and Ya-Sin the man on the outside looking in.