One Ravens Player Who Just Dodged A Major Draft-Day Bullet

Marlon Humphrey is a Raven For Life, a term thrown around a little too liberally in Owings Mills, but that truly applies to him.

A controversial draft pick at the time given Baltimore’s needs on offense, the corner has been a cornerstone player and turned in multiple season where he was among the NFL’s best at his position. But his game has generally been in decline for a few years now, he has been more injury prone, he should’ve been moved to the slot years ago, and a resurgent 2024 campaign is looking more and more like an outlier.

It’s going to be hard for general manager Eric DeCosta to quit him. And the draft was another indication of such.

Had the Ravens had leaned into their overarching organizational philosophy of drafting corners in the first three rounds of the draft and found a big, starting-caliber outside corner, maybe they would have leaned more into the reality of this situation.

It certainly would have given them even more leverage in whatever contract restructuring they pursue with him. They will be in nickel or dime likely 80% of the time, and Humphrey was arguably the most exploited corner in the NFL last season to play as much as he did, ranking 70th or worse in many key metrics out of 75 players to be targeted at least 65 times. But if they were going to phase him out by design, it would have happened by now.

A year ago they got left tackle Ronnie Stanley back for pennies on the dollar to his injury history and the idea of Humphrey playing on his bloated current deal is crazy. But the Ravens didn’t address corner in a meaningful way, finding a small slot potential rotational piece in the short term in fifth-round pick Chandler Rivers.

Locked Into A Bad Contract

With Humphrey set to make, ridiculously, just under $20M this season and count $25M against the cap, there is a strong case to be made he should have been gone before the draft. Instead he pocketed $4M in roster bonus, but his $15.25M base is not guaranteed.

Simply kicking the can with a max restructure – like the Ravens did a few weeks back with Lamar Jackson – is impossible with only void years remaining beyond 2026. But as it stands, unless they sign a veteran corner, Humphrey’s place on the depth chart looks relatively secure. What's less sure if the pricepoint he plays under.

Without a young corner absolutely pushing with starting potential – TJ Tampa hasn’t flashed much yet – Humphrey is sitting in good stead. But the Ravens better have a plan to limit his role, after they slash that base salary.

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