Marlon Humphrey Is The Ravens Cornerback Who Should Be Dealt. ASAP

The best time to trade Marlon Humphrey is right now.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s far from perfect timing given the recent film and the age and the contract. But it also is unlikely to get any better and they have defensive backs to spare, and he’s always been the one who should go if possible. And with so many youngsters making the case this summer, it’s more obvious now than ever.

The Ravens have a glut of corners. They especially have some emerging and interesting body types to man the slot with real upside at a cheap cost with years of control, and Humphrey should be headed to the slot. It won’t be easy, and they might have to move some more salary to make it work, but if we’re being serious about the situation in the secondary and who should be the odd-man out, and who could fetch the most in return … it’s Humphrey.

Oh, it would be difficult for general manager Eric DeCosta, so sentimental about certain players he is willing to overpay for too long, but it should happen. Mark Andrews is another one of his favorites in this category whose contract threatens to work against them. Knowing when it’s time to move on is a vital trait of a sports executive; it hasn’t been a strength of this franchise under DeCosta (long list of overpays on old guys or guys he kept too long – OBJ, Justin Houston, Kyle Van Noy, etc).

It needs to change. Now.

They already ate $4M on Humphrey’s roster bonus, he is an older corner with an injury history coming off a terrible season, they are going to be playing a ton of zone and one of Jesse Minter’s superpowers is finding long and rangy boundary corners on the cheap who fit his system expertly and allow the team to allocate funds elsewhere.

So tying up this much money in Humphrey is silly and already $355M into the payroll, with an older roster and the quarterback only really under contract for one more year, you might as well be willing to eat more here to get more back in return.

You Have To Give To Get

Longtime NFL personnel exec Pat Kirwan, a friend of mine for over 15 years, and someone who negotiated contracts and ran the cap and understands present value and future value, told me he would he marketing the heck out of Humphrey over the younger roster-bubble type corners most assume the Ravens would deal. Kirwan and I dissect the Ravens roster in depth on “The Daily Flock Show” episode coming out Tuesday, and he made it clear he would be going to owner Steve Bisciotti and explaining why absorbing more of Humphrey’s contract to make a deal is in the franchise’s best interest.

“You might trade one or two of them to someone who is short a corner and has the cap space to take on Marlon or even (Chidobe) Awuzie,” Kirwan said. “Someone who loses their starring corner who thinks, ‘Hey were on the edge of this thing.’ … How many times have you and I watched someone trade some guy and pay half money to get rid of him?”

Touche my friend. I’d have done it months ago. This guy as the tenth highest-paid corner in the NFL? Not on my watch.

Trouble Ahead?

Could they land a pass catcher with some upside and a late-round pick for him? Is it addition by subtraction getting someone like Keyon Martin into the slot and fully vested in this defense from Week 1 with Minter in charge? What I do know is having a $19M corner, who has been a face of the franchise and voice of the defense, on the bench, ain’t gonna work.

Humphrey didn’t seem to be joking when he spoke about Minter referring to his “trash” play at times this summer, and this has always been a contract either begging to be cut or begging to be moved somewhere for a fresh start. Out of qualified corners a year ago, he was 70th or worse in far too many metrics, no one fears throwing on him, and while this should be a corner friendly system, isn’t that all the more reason to lean into some who are younger and cheaper with more upside?

Even if they save $8M cash, that’s money that could be put to use at another position before the midseason trade deadline. Forget trying to trade the seventh-or-eighth corner for anything at all – rather than just lose him on waivers – and make room for youth by fully incentivizing another team to take a chance that Humphrey can return to form with them, for about $10M total.

He’s the one who should go. The sooner the better.

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