Marist School football coach Alan Chadwick was sitting in his office one day in 2013 when longtime Marist teacher and coach Dan Perez walked in. Perez had just led a seventh-grade physical education class and declared, “Coach, I just saw the best athlete we’ve ever had here at Marist.”
Whatever, Chadwick remembers thinking. In nearly 40 years at the suburban Atlanta Catholic school, Chadwick had seen scores of Division I athletes, including roughly a dozen who had gone on to the NFL.
“Seventh grade. I just kind of blew him off a little bit and said, ‘Yeah, sure, right,'” Chadwick recalled.
Roughly 11 years later, Chadwick looks back on Perez’s early assessment of 12-year-old Kyle Hamilton and says with a chuckle, “He was pretty much dead-on.”
Hamilton evolved from a long, lean, basketball-playing seventh-grader into a long, lean five-star safety and now a long, lean NFL star who is expected to be a face of the Ravens franchise and cornerstone of the defense for years to come. At 6-foot-4, Hamilton has broken the mold of what an NFL safety looks like, though evaluators and coaches agree that not many like Hamilton are coming along any time soon.
“I think Kyle is a unicorn,” said Chris Hewitt, the Ravens’ assistant head coach and longtime secondary coach. “He’s a one of one.”
Hoop Dreams?
Chadwick always assumed Hamilton was destined to play basketball. After all, Hamilton’s father, Derrek, had been a star forward at Southern Miss and was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1988. He played professionally for 15 years in Europe, including on the Greek island of Crete, where Kyle Hamilton was born. As a toddler, Hamilton also lived in Russia and Israel in the twilight of his father’s pro career before moving to Atlanta at age 3.
By the time Kyle was in grade school, his father had begun to train pro players, and a basketball was never far away. Kyle recalled how his father would take Kyle and his older brother, Tyler, to the Athletic Club Northeast gym before school.
“We would get up at probably 5:30, get in the gym by 6, get shots up for 45 minutes, shower up, leave by 7:30 and go to school,” Hamilton said.
And younger Kyle says despite the four-year age difference, “I was expected to keep up. We were always competing against each other as long as I can remember. … He’s a great older brother.”
Their mother, Jackie, stressed education, and Tyler went on to play college basketball at Penn and then at William & Mary, where he earned a master’s degree.
Chadwick expected Kyle would pivot to basketball, too — until, that is, “his dad, when Kyle was in about ninth grade, kept saying, ‘Nope, Kyle’s going to be a football player.'”
“Kyle told me, ‘Dad, I love football. I like basketball,'” Derrek Hamilton recalled.
“So I was like, ‘Do what you love.’ And he was super-aggressive as a kid. That’s not basketball mentality. Like he didn’t mind running into things and hitting people.”
Kyle said after all those mornings in the gym, the football field became “a kind of release,” where the scrutiny from his basketball-star father was a little less intense.
“He didn’t know as much about football,” he said with a wry smile. “If I messed up, he wouldn’t yell at me.”
Plus, Kyle sheepishly confirms his mother’s story that, yes, he used to talk football in his sleep.
“I was like 5 years old, and in my sleep I was saying things like, ‘We have to go for it on fourth down,’ or ‘Onside kick here.’ It’s true. I was just eat, sleep, football.”
Hamilton began his high school career as a quarterback and defensive back, but injuries to his hand and wrist altered his trajectory as a quarterback. He moved to wide receiver as a junior, but the secondary skills stood out from the start.
When Hamilton was in eighth grade, Chadwick said he was told, ‘Coach, he’s going to be the best defensive back you’ve ever had.'”
Hamilton’s college recruiting started modestly, though. He actually had a basketball scholarship offer from Tulane before any football offers. Hamilton was still under the radar when a former Marist player named Jack Dinges, then a walk-on at North Carolina, told Tar Heels assistant Terry Joseph that since he recruited the Atlanta area, he should stop by Dinges’ old high school. There’s a defensive back there worth seeing.
“You see the kid play and move around and you’re like, ‘Oh my God. How can I keep this from the rest of the world?'” Joseph recalled in a news conference a few years ago.
Turns out he couldn’t. Hamilton opened eyes at the U.S. Army All-American Combine in 2018, and offers began rolling in. He verbally committed to Notre Dame as a three-star prospect, but by the time he officially signed that fall, he had blossomed into a five-star recruit and one of the top safety prospects in the nation. (And Joseph had moved from UNC to Notre Dame.)
On Hamilton’s first defensive snap at Notre Dame Stadium, he snagged an interception and returned it for a touchdown.
Hamilton went on to earn AP All-America honors two years in a row and was a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defensive player in 2021 despite missing the final six games with a knee injury.
“No-Brainer” Draft Pick
Coming out of Notre Dame after his junior season, Hamilton was viewed as a potential top-five pick, but his stock seemed to slip after the NFL Scouting Combine. Hamilton ran the 40-yard dash in 4.59 seconds, slower than a dozen other safeties. Scouts began to question whether his size and perceived lack of speed would translate to the safety position in the NFL.
The Ravens were picking No. 14 overall that year, and safety was by no means a position of need. A month before the draft, they had signed Marcus Williams to a five-year, $70 million deal in their signature move of the offseason. Plus, Chuck Clark was returning as a veteran leader in the back end of the defense.
The Ravens did, however, need a wide receiver. They had agreed to ship Marquise Brown to the Arizona Cardinals, a deal they kept quiet until the opening night of the draft, perhaps hoping it would increase the chance a top receiver would fall to them at No. 14.
But between picks 8 and 12, a run on receivers wiped Drake London, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jameson Williams off the board. With the run on receivers, sitting there at No. 14 — after Philadelphia selected Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis at No. 13 — was Hamilton.
“I never dreamed in a million years that he would be there,” general manager Eric DeCosta said on the night Hamilton was drafted, calling the selection “a no-brainer for us.”
Hamilton’s pro career got off to a rocky start, though. A video of a training camp practice showed undrafted receiver Bailey Gaither beating Hamilton on a deep route, and social media let Hamilton have it. Then in Hamilton’s second career game, the Ravens suffered a spectacular meltdown, giving up four fourth-quarter touchdown passes in a 42-38 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Hamilton rebounded to finish the season with 55 tackles and two sacks and became one of the team’s most consistent defenders.
“With this league, you have your ups and downs, and I had both of those my rookie year,” he said.
Swiss Army Knife
These days, any concerns about Hamilton seem as distant as those early-morning shootarounds. In two seasons, Hamilton has established himself as one of the best and most versatile defensive players in the league.
Hamilton at times will line up at safety, but he’s a menace in the slot, where he can match up well with tight ends. He’s tenacious shedding blocks and blowing up jet sweeps or bubble screens, using his length and physicality to wrap up a ball-carrier.
Hamilton will occasionally fire off the edge on a blitz, as he did when he inundated the Colts to the tune of three sacks last year, or when he tipped, then intercepted a pass against Cleveland and returned it for a touchdown.
According to Pro Football Reference, Hamilton last season lined up in the slot about 44 percent of his snaps and at free safety about 28 percent. But at times he lined up at strong safety, as a dime backer, as an outside linebacker and even a few times as an outside cornerback.
“He’s like the ultimate chess piece,” NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger said. “He just has this incredible versatility.”
And Baldinger said any pre-draft concerns about Hamilton’s speed are misguided.
“That 40 time he ran, everybody said, ‘Oh, he’s a little slow,'” Baldinger said. “That just doesn’t show up. You never see him struggling to catch up. … He’s got good reaction time. He’s a long strider. He covers a lot of ground quickly. Because of his length, the actual speed, 4.6 or whatever it was, really doesn’t ever come into play.”
According to Pro Football Reference, quarterbacks throwing against Hamilton in 2023 had a rating of 38.4, going 34-for-63 for 166 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions.
“It’s been awesome just being able to move around and learn more about the defense,” Hamilton said.
“Whatever they need me to do, I’m here for it,” he added. “[I] just want to get better at everything.”
There’s no worry Hamilton won’t understand the assignment; he’s a member of Mensa International, which recognizes those who score in the top 2 percent of an intelligence test.
When Hamilton speaks, his answers are clear and thoughtful, and his demeanor projects warmth and approachability.
Unless, of course, you are wearing the other team’s jersey.
“Don’t let the baby face fool you,” Hewitt said last season. “He’ll try to rip your face off.”
“Good At Everything”
Hamilton is just 23 and halfway through his four-year, $16.3 million rookie deal. The Ravens have a fifth-year option for 2026, and it seems inconceivable they will ever let Hamilton leave as a free agent. His next contract is likely to reset the safety market and give him multigenerational wealth. But those around him say the fame doesn’t affect him.
In fact, Hamilton said he’d be fine with a little less of it.
“I’ve always said I want to be rich. I don’t want to be famous,” Hamilton said, “so I think I’m cool where I’m at on the level of fame — maybe it could get even lower. But it’s super exciting to just have the opportunities as well.”
Last spring, Hamilton went back to Notre Dame as a regular student, taking classes toward a degree in marketing. (He’s still a few credit hours short after leaving South Bend his junior year.) When Hamilton wasn’t in class or working out, he could often be found at Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course working on his other passion.
“Kyle loves golf,” his father said. “I mean, he loves golf.”
Fueled by the popularity of Tiger Woods, Derrek Hamilton began taking his sons to the course when Kyle was about 3.
“It’s super humbling,” said Kyle Hamilton, whose personal-best round is 72. And when he says, “I’ve never been super good,” it sounds like a fierce challenge to himself.
“You can shoot 75 one day, and then go out and shoot 95. It’s a detail-oriented sport, and it’s just awesome to chase after that perfection.”
“I mean, I’m pretty good for an amateur,” he added, “but it’s something I can work at, and it doesn’t take a huge toll on my body. Plus, I can play with my friends.”
He also plays with his dad. Derrek noted that he hasn’t beaten Kyle in golf since Kyle was about 13.
“Kyle takes all my money,” the elder Hamilton said. “He drives the ball like 320, hits his pitching wedge like 180. He’s the kid that’s good at everything.”
“Just Kyle”
Kyle Hamilton remains grounded, with his family at his core. His parents, long since divorced, attend every game. Tyler began working with Kyle on marketing opportunities when he was at Notre Dame. Kyle has dated girlfriend Reese Damm since high school, and their special handshake on the night he was drafted went viral.
Jackie Hamilton was born in South Korea, and Hamilton has embraced his Asian ethnicity. During an NFL initiative to promote international diversity, Hamilton proudly wore a South Korean flag decal on his helmet.
This past spring, Hamilton made something of a bucket list trip, visiting South Korea for the first time with his mother and brother. Hamilton played tourist, ate some of his favorite Korean foods and met relatives for the first time. He also hosted a football camp at Camp Humphreys, a U.S. Army base outside Seoul.
Back in the U.S., Hamilton recently stopped by his old high school and signed footballs that Chadwick, the coach at Marist, used as raffle prizes at a camp. Chadwick noted that every year, Hamilton returns to see a game at Marist, usually showing up unannounced about a half-hour before the game.
“Doesn’t tell anybody,” Chadwick said. “Just walks up by himself. He doesn’t have an entourage. He doesn’t have all these people hanging on him. Just Kyle. That doesn’t happen very often.”
Returning to Atlanta, though, surely brings back memories of early morning basketball, and he recognizes now how his career was framed in part in that gym with his father and brother.
“It was discipline. It was learning how to work from an early age,” Hamilton said. “[My dad] was training pros. It kind of gave me a look at what it takes not only to get where I want, but to stay there.”
Photo Credits: Kenya Allen/PressBox, Courtesy of Derrek Hamilton, Courtesy of Marist Athletics