Throughout the course of any Ravens game, it’s possible a fan could watch Kyle Hamilton cover a tight end in the slot, create havoc on a blitz, chase down a running back in the flat and intercept a tipped pass in the middle of the field.
That’s the magic of Hamilton, a 6-foot-4, 224-pound do-it-all safety entering his third year in Baltimore after being selected out of Notre Dame with the No. 14 pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. With the league long having shifted its energies toward the passing game, teams generally emphasize coverage when identifying safeties in the draft or free agency, with box safeties having been phased out in recent years.
Hamilton, though, doesn’t fit the mold of a traditional free or strong safety. He’s a “unicorn,” according to Ravens assistant head coach and passing game coordinator Chris Hewitt, who works with Baltimore’s secondary.
“He’s like a generational-type player,” Hewitt said. “You don’t see many guys who are 6-foot-4 who can run and change direction the way he does. He still plays with violence. He’s not a finesse player. He’s got it all. He’s a different player. He’s very unique. There’s not many players in the league or coming into the league that I see that look like that.”
Former NFL GM Randy Mueller and Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy also doubt that there will be a steady stream of safeties in the mold of Hamilton. Instead, they say that the success of Hamilton says a lot more about the synergy between Baltimore’s coaching staff and personnel department.
The Ravens had a vision for Hamilton when they drafted him in April 2022 and executed it in the two seasons that followed, something that Nagy said doesn’t happen as often as it should across the league. That development process is most often discussed regarding quarterbacks, but it goes for all positions.
“You’ve got to use them to their strengths, and it just doesn’t happen as much as it should,” Nagy said. “It sounds easy, right? Play to a guy’s strengths, don’t be cookie-cutter. But I think there are a lot of organizations that Kyle Hamilton could’ve [gone] to and they would’ve tried to fit him into a specific scheme and it probably wouldn’t have fit great and the next thing you know he’s being labeled a bust. That probably would’ve happened in some places, but it hasn’t happened in Baltimore.”
Hamilton, 23, had a breakout season in 2023, earning first-team All-Pro honors. He totaled 81 tackles (10 for loss), 13 passes defensed, four interceptions and three sacks. The Ravens used him all over the field — often with two other safeties on the field, allowing him to play close to the line of scrimmage. He played 91 percent of the Ravens’ defensive snaps in the 15 regular-season games he played, according to Pro Football Reference, up from 53 percent the year before.
Mueller, the former GM of the New Orleans Saints (2000-2001) and Miami Dolphins (2005-2007), said Hamilton almost strikes him as a weak-side linebacker who has the length and athleticism to play press coverage against a slot receiver. The Ravens haven’t asked him to play center field the way teams would with a typical free safety.
“There’s a lot of teams when Hamilton came out that he just didn’t fit what they want, so there were teams that passed on that skill set,” Mueller said. “The Ravens have been one to utilize his strengths and minimize the things he doesn’t do great. They should be credited for that, but I don’t think people are going to be looking for that, per se. It’s too much of a spread game, and he’s unique that he can survive in that world, but most at his size can’t.”
The Ravens’ continuity in the coaching and personnel ranks helps create a shared vision that leads to success stories like Hamilton, according to Nagy. John Harbaugh is in his 17th season as head coach. Eric DeCosta, in his sixth season as GM, has been with the organization since 1996.
“What happens to teams that aren’t successful is volatility kills it,” Nagy said. “[For example], a general manager is in place for a decade but he’s gone through two or three coaches, and every coach they bring in is looking for different things or vice versa. There’s just volatility on both sides. An impatient owner is turning over the front office, he’s turning over the coaches and they can never land on the same page. That’s what [owner] Steve Bisciotti has built there. The stability has really fostered that partnership.”
Hamilton is eligible for an extension following the 2024 season, but Over The Cap founder Jason Fitzgerald says that doesn’t mean a deal will necessarily come together right away. Quarterbacks and offensive linemen often sign extensions as soon as they’re eligible, but players at other positions tend to wait a little bit longer. The Ravens can pick up Hamilton’s fifth-year option for the 2026 season in the spring, plus the franchise-tag number for safeties is relatively low if it ever gets to that point, meaning there’s no rush.
That said, the defensive back market shifted earlier this year when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. agreed to a four-year, $84.1 million deal with $45 million fully guaranteed. That market should evolve some more in the coming months, when star cornerbacks Sauce Gardner, Patrick Surtain II and A.J. Terrell sign new contracts.
“With Winfield jumping the safety market, those guys are going to push really hard that the corner market’s finally got to move somewhere,” Fitzgerald said. “I would probably actually look closer to see if there’s a lot of movement in the cornerback market, if that can help safeties look for a little bit more.”
It stands to reason the Ravens will eventually pay their unicorn safety, who would join a long list of homegrown players who have been rewarded for their past work and what they project to do in the future. Fitzgerald says the Ravens do a good job of identifying players who will remain effective throughout the first three or four years of a new contract, noting cornerback Marlon Humphrey as a prime example.
“The Ravens’ front office has been terrific for many, many, many years,” Fitzgerald said. “You can never predict injuries. [Ronnie Stanley’s contract] ended up blowing up on them. He’s just always been hurt. But they’ve done a pretty good job with that.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
Issue 288: August/September 2024
Originally published Aug. 14, 2024