When the Baltimore Ravens waited until the fifth round to draft a cornerback in the 2023 NFL draft the question was not if the team would sign a cornerback after the draft, it was when they would. The Ravens have a few options to start on the outside, but each one would bring huge question marks.
Baltimore Ravens signing Rock Ya-Sin ends a Marcus Peters reunion
The easiest name to place on the Ravens was Marcus Peters. Peters was expected to test the market and was likely to end up elsewhere, but his market ended up colder than he anticipated. This is not a huge surprise considering his age and injury history, but it did re-open the door for him to end up in Baltimore.
With the Peters market soured, and the Ravens leaving draft weekend with a need, it was easy to put two and two together. However, when the team signed Rock Ya-Sin it was clear that the two sides were definitely going in different directions.
Ya-Sin is nearly four years younger than Marcus Peters. While he has had some injury issues, none are as devastating as Peters missing all of 2021, and Peters did not look like he was back to his old ways last year. It does appear that the Ravens do not see him aging well at this point, and they are going for the younger player who has seen his play trending up.
The reality is that with the addition of Rock Ya-Sin, the Ravens' cornerback room may now be set. Rock Ya-Sin has 38 starts in four seasons, so when he is healthy he should be in the mix, if not the locked-in starter. With a set CB2, the depth starts to look better.
Between Brandon Stephens, Trayvon Mullen, Jayln Armour-Davis, and Kyu Blu Kelly they have plenty of depth and enough names to push Rock Ya-Sin. If one of those players steps up and ends up better than Rock Ya-Sin it is great, but as of now they have four names who could be anything from CB4-CB7. That means that someone like Mullen or Armour-Davis is probably going to get cut.
When you realize that they have enough depth now, and they chose Rock Ya-Sin over Marcus Peters, it is clear that Peters will be done playing for the Ravens now.