Over the course of any Ravens game, a fan can watch Kyle Hamilton cover a tight end in the slot, wreak havoc on a blitz, chase down a running back in the flat, and intercept a deflected pass in the middle of the field.
That’s the magic of Hamilton, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound all-around safety who is entering his third year in Baltimore after being selected by Notre Dame with the No. 14 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Because the league has long shifted its energy to the passing game, teams generally emphasize coverage when identifying safeties in the draft or among free agents, with box safeties gradually being phased out in recent years.
Hamilton, however, doesn’t fit the mold of a traditional free or strong safety. He’s a “unicorn,” says Chris Hewitt, the Ravens’ assistant head coach and passing game coordinator who works with Baltimore’s secondary.
“He’s a once-in-a-generation player,” Hewitt said. “You don’t see many 6-foot-4 guys that can run and change direction like he can. He still plays with force. He’s not a finesse player. He’s got everything. He’s a different player. He’s unique. I don’t see many players in the league or coming into the league that look like that.”
Former NFL executive Randy Mueller and Senior Bowl executive Jim Nagy also doubt there will be a steady influx of safeties in Hamilton’s mold. Instead, they say Hamilton’s success says much 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 on it over the next two seasons, something Nagy said doesn’t happen as often as it should across the league. This development process is most often discussed in relation to quarterbacks, but it applies to all positions.
“You have to play to their strengths, and that just doesn’t happen as often as it should,” Nagy said. “That sounds simple, right? You have to play to a player’s strengths, you shouldn’t be a cookie cutter. But I think there are a lot of organizations that Kyle Hamilton could have gone to, and they would have tried to fit him into a certain mold, and it probably wouldn’t have been a great fit, and the next thing you know, he’s labeled a failure. That probably would have happened in some places, but it didn’t happen in Baltimore.”
Hamilton, 23, had a stellar 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. According to Pro Football Reference, he played 91 percent of the Ravens’ defensive snaps in the 15 regular-season games he played, 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 strikes him as almost 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 in the middle of the field, as teams would with a typical free safety.
“A lot of teams found that Hamilton just wasn’t up to their standards after his debut, and there were teams that passed on that skill set,” Mueller said. “The Ravens capitalized on his strengths and minimized the things he doesn’t do as well. They should be given credit for that, but I don’t think people are going to look for that in itself. It’s too much of a spread game, and he’s unique because he can survive in that world, but most his size can’t.”
The Ravens’ continuity in the coaching and personnel ranks helps create a shared vision, according to Nagy, which leads to success stories like Hamilton. 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 that volatility ruins them,” Nagy said. “(For example) a general manager has been in the job for a decade but has 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 changes the front office, he changes coaches, and they can never end up on the same page. That’s what (owner) Steve Bisciotti built there. The stability really fostered that partnership.”
Hamilton is eligible for a contract extension after the 2024 season, but Over The Cap founder Jason Fitzgerald says that doesn’t mean a deal will necessarily happen immediately. Quarterbacks and offensive linemen often sign extensions as soon as they’re eligible, but players at other positions tend to wait a little longer. The Ravens can pick up Hamilton’s five-year option for the 2026 season in the spring, and besides, the franchise tag number for safeties is relatively low if it ever comes to that, so there’s no rush.
However, the market for defensive backs changed earlier this year when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed safety Antoine Winfield Jr. to a four-year, $84.1 million deal with $45 million guaranteed. That market is expected to evolve even further in the coming months as star cornerbacks Sauce Gardner, Patrick Surtain II and AJ Terrell sign new contracts.
“With Winfield leaving the safety market, those guys are really going to push for the cornerback market to finally move somewhere,” Fitzgerald said. “I would probably take a closer look to see if there’s a lot of movement in the cornerback market, if that can help the safeties look a little bit more.”
It stands to reason that 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 future plans. Fitzgerald says the Ravens do a good job of identifying players who will remain effective for the first three or four years of a new contract, citing cornerback Marlon Humphrey as a prime example.
“The Ravens’ front office was great for many, many, many years,” Fitzgerald said. “You can never predict injuries. (Ronnie Stanley’s contract) ended up falling apart for them. He was just always injured. But they handled it pretty well.”
Photo credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
Issue 288: August/September 2024
