The Ravens made a big splash in free agency Tuesday with the addition of New Orleans safety Marcus Williams but they still need to compliment him with a pass rusher, one of the team’s major weaknesses in recent years.
Williams, 25, will make the Ravens better, especially in a secondary that had the worst pass defense in the NFL last season, allowing 278.9 yards per game. They also had only nine interceptions, second fewest in the team’s 26-year history in Baltimore.
But if they really want to be special, find a top pass rusher.
Williams is regarded as one of the league’s top safeties, and the team hasn’t had a free-roaming center fielder since Hall of Famer Ed Reed left following the team’s Super Bowl season in 2012. The addition of Williams can only help in a conference that features quarterbacks in Buffalo’s Josh Allen, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, Denver’s Russell Wilson and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow.
It’s a great move, but the Ravens have been down this road several times now. They’ve had one of the best secondaries for the past three seasons with only one playoff win in four years to show for it. Some will point directly at the development of quarterback Lamar Jackson for those postseason losses, but football is a team sport. The blame goes around.
Behind a lot of great quarterbacks, such as John Unitas or Joe Montana, there are usually great receivers like John Mackey and Raymond Berry with Unitas in Baltimore or Jerry Rice with both Montana and quarterback Steve Young in San Francisco. The same can pretty much be said about top cornerbacks and safeties. When Hall of Fame safety Rod Woodson and cornerbacks Chris McAlister and Duane Starks were starters on the Ravens’ 2000 Super Bowl team, they had top pass rushers to pair with them in end Michael McCrary and outside linebacker Peter Boulware.
In New Orleans, Williams had defensive end Cameron Jordan, who had 12 ½ sacks last season. The Ravens don’t have a player like that on the current roster, though second-year outside linebacker Odafe Oweh has flashed the potential to be a star. He just isn’t a proven commodity yet.
It would’ve been interesting to hear what the Ravens coaches and decision-makers ranked their weaknesses and priorities before the start of the offseason. Maybe finding a free safety was No. 1 on their list, or maybe both general manager Eric DeCosta and Williams found terms of the contract so amenable that neither could turn away.
One thing is absolute: The Ravens need Williams. For years both coach John Harbaugh and former defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale talked about how starting safeties Chuck Clark and DeShon Elliott were interchangeable, but they really weren’t. Both were basically strong safeties who were better in run support than securing the deep middle of the field.
Williams, however, has been one of the NFL’s best at the position. Over five seasons with the Saints, he had 15 interceptions and 38 passes defended and never missed more than two games in a season. He’s one of six players with at least two interceptions over each of the past five years, and Pro Football Focus ranks Williams in the 94th percentile among all safeties in coverage grade since 2017.
Williams will help ease a lot of fears with both starting cornerbacks, Marcus Peters (knee) and Marlon Humphrey (pectoral), returning from major season-ending injuries a year ago. Peters is 29, and Humphrey didn’t play well in the 12 games he started last season.
He could be a big-play performer in a defense that struggled to force turnovers last season. At 6-1 and 195 pounds, Williams is versatile and physical enough to play several roles in new coordinator Mike Macdonald’s defense.
The Ravens have always had a fixation with safeties. They brought Eric Weddle in 2016 and Earl Thomas in 2019. Both were great players at one time but on the downside of their careers when they arrived in Baltimore.
At least with former Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, he wanted to take care of the middle of the field, which is why he always had a big run stopper on the defensive line. Maybe that’s true with DeCosta, too. The Ravens will reportedly pay Williams $70 million over the next five years with $37 million guaranteed, so this was a costly agreement.
But if they really want to get their money’s worth, add a pass rusher. A good one. The Ravens might be able to select one in the draft, but that’s a two to three-year development.
At least there is one guarantee: The Ravens allowed 29 completions of more than 30 yards last season.
That won’t happen again — not with Williams.
