Ravens' New Secondary Could Make or Break Season

Going into the offseason, the Baltimore Ravens knew their secondary needed significant work. They finished with the second-worst pass defense in the entire league in 2024, and while they improved significantly in the second half of the season, they were still severely lacking in depth.

To their credit, they've made some big additions on the backend this offseason. They spent their first-round pick on former Georgia safety Malaki Starks, arguably the best in the class, and signed cornerbacks Jaire Alexander and Chidobe Awuzie in free agency. With stars such as Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins and Kyle Hamilton expected to have big seasons once again, the Ravens' secondary looks like it could be dangerous in 2025.

Of course, that's assuming the new additions live up to their expectations. CBS Sports' Jared Dubin listed Starks, Alexander and Awuzie as the Ravens' most important players (excluding quarterbacks) heading into the 2025 campaign.

"The Ravens were fantastic offensively from the jump last season, but their season didn't truly take off until their figured things out on defense," Dubin wrote. "And that happened when they figured things out on the back end.

"Two key figures from that unit last season are gone, though: Brandon Stephens signed with the Jets and Ar'Darius Washington (whose emergence was especially important) tore his Achilles this offseason. Starks needs to step into Washington's role right away and the Ravens need either Alexander (if healthy) or Awuzie to lock down a corner spot."

There are concerns for all three of the newcomers. For Alexander and Awuzie, it would be their health, as they played just seven and eight games in 2024, respectively, and the latter is already 30. For Starks, it would be his somewhat underwhelming performance at the combine, as well as him not being nearly as productive in 2024 as he was in 2023.

That said, all three of them also come with outstanding upside. Alexander is one of the best corners in the league when healthy, Awuzie is a solid veteran with plenty of experience for contending teams and Starks was a staple of one of college football's best defenses over the past few years. There's far more reason to be optimistic than there is to be pessimistic going into this season.