Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey celebrates with cornerback Nate Wiggins. Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Ravens' Secondary Features 'Three-Headed Monster'

Originally posted on Baltimore Ravens on SI
By Jon Alfano | Last updated Jun 25, 2025 9:00 AM ET

Oh what a journey the Baltimore Ravens' secondary has been on over the past year.

There's no way to sugarcoat just how poorly the Ravens' secondary played early last year, as they allowed nearly 300 passing yards per game in the first half of the season. However, starting around Week 11, when Ar'Darius Washington replaced the struggling Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson in the starting lineup, the unit improved substantially and actually became one of the NFL's best in the second half. Baltimore allowed just 175.3 passing yards per game over its final nine contests (including postseason).

Now this offseason, the Ravens have improved the secondary substantially. They lost some key players in free agency - most notably starting cornerback Brandon Stephens - and losing Washington to a torn Achilles is a massive blow, but the additions outweigh the losses. First-round pick Malaki Starks should slot right in at safety, and the addition of Chidobe Awuzie and more recently Jaire Alexander take the cornerback group to the next level.

With Alexander now joining forces with Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins, Good Morning Football's Isaiah Stanback believes the Ravens now have a "three-headed monster" at corner.

Will the stars align for the @Ravens this year? @IamSTANBACK thinks they have the right people at the right positions to dominate the 2025 season. pic.twitter.com/VTyNeXj4Zv
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) June 23, 2025

"I really believe that their defense [has] always been at their core. It's been the ethos of the Baltimore Ravens," Stanback said. "That's what we've known them to be over all their successful years. And I really think they're going to take a tremendous step forward."

"You talk about Zach Orr and his first year as a coordinator – he was out there, able to do some things, have a top 10 defense, but they weren't dominant. They were effective, they were impactful, they impacted the game in a lot of different ways, but I think that now with some of the additions that they've had … they have a three-headed monster at the cornerback position that's going to allow their safeties to intermingle and do the things that they want to do."

Though the offense has been dominant in recent years, the Ravens have a long legacy of amazing defense. As Humphrey mentioned at last week's mandatory minicamp, the goal is to reestablish that championship-caliber defense this season.

"I feel that when I first came to the Ravens, it was all about the Ravens defense," Humphrey said. "It was all about the Ravens defense. It was all about the Ravens defense, and I feel like I've let that standard – being here, I think [I'm] the longest [tenured] defensive guy – I feel like I've let that standard kind of slip, and that's something that I want to get back."

This article first appeared on Baltimore Ravens on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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