Ravens GM DeCosta admits "We're throwing out a big net" at the cornerback room

If you have to boil down all preseason storylines coming out of the Baltimore Ravens to one and only one, that's probably the endless array of injuries suffered by the members of the Flock cornerback room.

Eric DeCosta, the GM of Baltimore, spoke to media members attending Friday's practice and handed them a ton of golden nuggets touching on a plethora of topics, including the injuries ravaging the Ravens' secondary.

Luke Jones asked DeCosta about the challenges the franchise must have endured in evaluating the position with guys continuously "on and off the field," let alone after Marlon Humphrey's untimely injury and surgery late in camp.

DeCost said the franchise "are certainly throwing out a big net" and that the Ravens "have a lot of guys right now at the position."

"We're certainly throwing out a big net. We have a lot of guys right now at that position. I think the health [at that position] has been somewhat problematic at various times throughout camp at that position, as we've seen it in the past. [With] that being said, we do think we have a lot of talented guys back there. We're anxious to see – when we finally get everybody out there on the field together – what it looks like. But, I think that some of the younger guys have emerged [and] a couple other guys that have been on the team the last couple of years looks like they have taken a step in the right direction. Obviously, we know that when we get Marlon [Humphrey] back, we'll have a premier player out there. It remains to be seen. It's always going to be one position that every team has that's challenging at times throughout the course of any season. We'll address those positions. We've tried to do that every single year. There's always one position that seems to just be an outlier for us, depth wise. The good thing, I would say, with the corner position this year is we haven't suffered any serious injuries [or] catastrophic injuries. They're all injuries that are more, in some ways, annoying type of injuries to soft tissue or whatever, and we think we'll be healthy pretty quickly."

- Eric DeCosta, Baltimore Ravens GM

The Ravens named eight cornerbacks in their initial 53-man roster on Tuesday, quite a large collection of bodies to man just three positions on defense. The GM acknowledged that the franchise had to go a bit overboard with that approach, but that made sense considering how seemingly everybody is struggling to get fit to play.

The three starters for the 2023 season (Humphrey and free-agent signings Rock Ya-Sin and Arthur Maulet) are either injured or still recovering from training camp woes.

The rotational guys include more last-minute free-agent acquisitions (Ronald Darby), and ancillary/boderline-NFL-level players in Kevon Seymour, Jalyn Armour-Davis, and Brandon Stephens.

DeCosta, answering to unrelated questions, floated the possibility of making some trades down the line, and those could clearly involve a cornerback needed now but deemed a surpluss asset later in the season when the better players start to get fitter.

It's good to know that the Ravens were led by EDC in this approach and they are confident in their current CB room while not fearing any of the players having suffered "any serious or catastrophic injuries."

According to DeCosta, they are all "annoying type of injuries," and the franchise thinks all members of the unit "will be healthy pretty quickly."

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