Ravens finally seeing what they hoped for from Kyle Hamilton

The Baltimore Ravens had a very productive offseason. And the first of their two first-round picks in April is starting to emerge on defense.

A year ago, John Harbaugh’s club won eight of its 11 games, owned the top spot in the AFC North and after 12 weeks of action owned the best record in the conference. This was despite a rash of injuries that affected much of the club.

But the Baltimore Ravens eventually couldn’t overcome the loss of their starting quarterback down the stretch and perhaps more significantly, survive a secondary that was without cornerback Marcus Peters for all of 2021 and would be without star Marlon Humphrey for the final five games. Was it any wonder that the team allowed the most passing yards in the league a season ago?

So general manager Eric DeCosta was busy this offseason adding the likes of free safety Marcus Williams in free agency from the Saints. And with the 14th overall selection in April, highly-regarded University of Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton was there for the taking. There’s progress being made in Baltimore and Hamilton’s play as of late has certainly been a factor.

However, the first-place Ravens still have some work to do when it comes to stopping opposing quarterbacks. A year ago, Harbaugh’s club gave up 31 scores through the air and picked off only nine passes in 17 outings. This season, the 6-3 Ravens have already totaled nine interceptions in as many games and have allowed only 13 TD passes – six of those scores to Tua Tagovailoa in Week 2.

Hamilton has played in all nine games this year. He’s racked up 21 tackles, one sack and knocked down two passes on defense. He’s also added four stops on special teams. DeCosta and the team look like it has struck gold with both the former Golden Domer and Tyler Linderbaum, the other first-round pick in April. And the Ravens’ defense looks a bit different since that shell-shocking afternoon against the Dolphins.