OWINGS MILLS, Md. — To no surprise, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta recently confirmed his expectation of taking a safety in this week’s draft.
Exactly where the position ranks among Baltimore’s biggest needs is up for debate, but adding a viable third option to go with two-time Pro Bowl selection Kyle Hamilton and Ar’Darius Washington is a must, especially on the heels of last season when poor play from Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson prompted defensive coordinator Zach Orr to bench those veterans and revamp the nickel and dime packages midway through the season. Those changes opened the door for the emergence of Washington, who started 10 games and graded eighth out of 98 qualified safeties by Pro Football Focus.
On Monday, the 25-year-old Washington officially signed his tender worth $3.263 million after no other team signed the restricted free agent to an offer sheet. DeCosta giving the 5-foot-8, 180-pound Washington only the low tender last month was perceived as risky since the Ravens wouldn’t have received draft compensation if another team signed the former undrafted free agent to an offer sheet that went unmatched, but restricted free agents rarely leave their teams and Washington’s small stature and injury history likely made potential suitors take pause about making the kind of offer DeCosta might not match.
Washington’s long-term future with the Ravens may now depend on what happens in the draft as a pair of safeties — Georgia’s Malaki Starks and South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori — have been popular choices for Baltimore’s 27th overall pick in various mock drafts. However, there are also legitimate options in subsequent rounds with DeCosta estimating as many as a half-dozen safeties who are “good players” and projected to go in the third, fourth, and fifth rounds. Prospects fitting that description include Ohio State’s Lathan Ransom, Alabama’s Malachi Moore, and Texas’ Andrew Mukuba.
Regardless of which round the Ravens take a safety, a driving force for adding to the position is desiring more freedom to move the versatile Hamilton around the defense. While the 24-year-old repeatedly downplayed his transition to playing more deep safety — and playing it at an elite level — over the second half of last season, Baltimore doesn’t want to be in a spot where it’s forced to use Hamilton in that capacity rather than being able to line him up anywhere on any given play. To be clear, Hamilton still moved around the defense over the second half of last season, but the absence of three-safety alignments decreased his usage in the box and defending the slot.
Speaking to reporters at the start of the Ravens’ offseason training program on Monday, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Hamilton reiterated his stance of having no preference about where he lines up.
“I really don’t care at all whether it’s game to game or drive to drive, play to play,” Hamilton said. “Whatever it needs to be, I’m more than happy to do it. I feel like I’m more than capable of getting the job done, so I appreciate the coaches and the staff for entrusting me with all that responsibility, and I’ll try to do my best with it and do as well as I can at all those positions. But it really doesn’t make a difference to me.
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“I’m just trying to go out there and make football plays.”
Even more important than where Hamilton lines up is ensuring he remains in Baltimore. While DeCosta wouldn’t disclose whether he’d exercise the fifth-year option on the 2022 first-round pick out of Notre Dame, the Ravens aren’t about to let their biggest defensive star become a free agent next offseason. Hamilton’s fifth-year option will cost $18.6 million and be fully guaranteed for 2026.
You’d fully anticipate the Ravens needing to make Hamilton the NFL’s highest-paid safety to keep him beyond next season, meaning the price is only going to go up. According to OverTheCap.com, Tampa Bay’s Antoine Winfield Jr. is currently the league’s highest-paid safety with an average annual value of just over $21 million per season on an $84.1 million contract signed last spring.
On Monday, Hamilton had nothing new to report on any contract discussions.
“I haven’t had too many talks about it to be honest,” Hamilton said. “They’re busy with draft stuff and all that stuff going on. I’m not in a big rush, so if it happens, it happens — cool. If it happens this offseason, [that’s] cool too, but I’m not in a rush to get it done necessarily.”
