Ravens DC Shares Vision For New Safety Duo

"I think the vision, ultimately, is be ball hawks and be ball control back there, [be] great communicators, great leaders, get us in and out of the right calls, nothing over our heads, and then make plays back there," Orr said last Thursday. "Last week, when 'K-Ham' was here with Malaki, it was great to see those guys kind of start building that chemistry, and I've already seen the impact that 'K-Ham' has had on Malaki with his communication, his knowledge and just his football savvy. So, Malaki's picking that up. I have a great vision for those guys. I think they're going to help us out and play great football for us."

The Ravens already have a proven First Team All Pro in Hamilton, who is arguably the top safety in the league. After emerging as a star playing in a hybrid nickel role in the second half of his rookie year in 2022 and all of 2023, he proved he could play the role of a true free safety if and when needed last season after the Ravens shook up their starting lineup. The personnel shift followed a horrendously inconsistent start to the year that saw them give up the most yards and 20-plus-yard plays through the air in the first 10 weeks. Hamilton finished with a career-high 107 total tackles including four for a loss, two forced fumbles, two sacks, six quarterback hits, one interception, a fumble recovery and nine pass breakups.

Starks will be a Day 1 starter by necessity with Washington's injury but the Ravens believe their top pick is well up to the task after watching him star for years at the University of Georgia where he won a national title and earned All American honors on top of being a stalwart leader for the Bulldogs.

"He's kind of been on our radar for a while, just because Georgia, obviously, they've been a great football team, so they had a lot of guys come out over the years," Orr said. "I remember watching [defensive backs] that came out, specifically in last year's class, [the] 2024 class, and I'm like, 'Man, who's [No.] 24?' [I was] asking the scouts and everything. They're like, 'He's not coming out until next year.' I was like, 'Oh, he's a true sophomore.' The thing that really impressed me about him this year was Georgia had a lot of young guys in the secondary. He's one of the older guys there as a true junior, so basically by week or by game plan, he played all around the secondary, and he still was their best player back there. So, that's what was really intriguing to us."

The Ravens have historically valued positional versatility in all their players on both sides of the ball but especially on defense and in the secondary over the past decade. They don't like locking their best players into just one position because it makes them more predictable as a unit and their needs could deviate depending on specific matchups against opposing players and schemes.

"If you have a guy in the secondary who can play safety, corner, nickel, dime and play it all at a high level, it's really valuable," Orr said. "I think that's what really stood out to me about [Starks] this year."

With Hamilton and Starks, the Ravens now have two such players who fit that diverse description and could be developing a third with fourth-year defensive back Jalyn Armour-Davis. The 2022 fourth-rounder has played outside corner exclusively during his first three seasons in the NFL but has been taking snaps at safety during the first few weeks of Organized Team Activities.

"He probably might be the smartest DB in the room, because he knows all the positions," Orr said. "He can play all the positions, but he's just one of the guys we're starting to do that with, and you'll start seeing more guys do that as we get going."