Stellar defense and the Baltimore Ravens, name a better tradition. While last year's defense wasn't quite as tremendous as the 2023 unit was, things certainly could have been a lot worse.
Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated, however, predicts that 2025 will be a special year for the Ravens and their defense. In his list of bold predictions for the 2025 season, Orr has Baltimore winning the AFC North, which is no easy feat, and then also has Malaki Starks snagging the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, which, again, is not an easy thing to accomplish.
"The safety out of Georgia will run up the score with a top-five interception total in the league and flex his all-around playmaking ability in a Baltimore defense that steamrolls opponents, finishing fourth in EPA per play—a sizable jump from an 11th-place finish last season."
One bold prediction says Malaki Starks is about to take over NFL
It was pretty entertaining to see fans of the other teams up in arms over Baltimore somehow once again having the perfect player fall to them in the draft. Starks fell to the 27th pick in the draft, where the Ravens just couldn't help themselves. He filled a need and now the Ravens had additional help in their secondary.
Orr's other prediction, the one that involves the Ravens winning the division, isn't necessarily bold but winning the AFC North is always a challenge. Orr pointed out that "the Bengals are much improved" and the Steelers could end up with Aaron Rodgers but "the Ravens are the only sensible choice to win one of the toughest divisions in the NFL."
So not only is Starks good enough to win Defensive Rookie of the Year but the Ravens go on to win the AFC North for the third straight year in these predictions. There will be plenty of fan bases that hate hearing this but for Ravens fans, keep this kind of talk coming.