The Baltimore Ravens have learned that there’s no such thing as too much secondary depth, and their roster shows it.
One of the biggest takeaways from the Ravens’ initial roster is the fact that they decided to keep 11 defensive backs: five cornerbacks and six safeties. That’s not even counting cornerback Arthur Maulet, who will miss at least the first four games of the season on injured reserve but should return soon after.
That deep secondary could be seen as something of a luxury, and other teams know it. According to general manager Eric DeCosta, the Ravens received calls from multiple teams looking to trade for a defensive back, but they turned down those offers to maintain a position of strength.
“We’re really strong [in the secondary], and we had a few teams call us about a few of our players, and my mentality is, ‘If you’re strong, stay strong,'” DeCosta told reporters Thursday. “In some years, we’ve traded players, and then you get a couple of injuries and then you look at it and kind of regret it, now you’re happy at draft time, but it makes for some challenges in [the] season. We just decided this year that we liked our team and we were going to stand put with the players that we had.”
Even considering all the defensive backs they kept, and Maulet and fellow corner Trayvon Mullen landing on injured reserve, it was still tough to decide who made the cut. Perhaps the most notable cut was corner Damarion “Pepe” Williams, a 2022 fourth-round pick who hasn’t really had a chance to show what he can do at the NFL level.
On the other side of the coin, rookie safeties Sanoussi Kane and Beau Brade both made the roster, possibly being the last two players to do so. Both players fought hard to earn their spots, and they’ll be notable pieces in possibly football’s deepest secondary.
“I just think with Beau, that guy just really earned it,” DeCosta said of Brade. “The reality is, Beau actually just played great, and he did it consistently. He won the job. He took the job. And in the end, he deserved being on the team, and that’s what it was all about.”