Getty The Baltimore Ravens should add some free-agent "insurance" to help All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey.
Adding a veteran cornerback during the waning days of free agency is the best way for the Baltimore Ravens to shore up a suspect position ahead of the 2023 NFL season. There are a number of of experienced corners still available, but one in particular would help Pro-Bowler Marlon Humphrey maintain his stellar levels of play.
Bryce Callahan is a good fit, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. Zrebiec believes Callahan’s presence would “allow Marlon Humphrey to remain outside and give Baltimore some insurance if its young corners, such as Jalyn Armour-Davis, Damarion Williams and Kyu Blu Kelly, aren’t ready to be relied on for significant snaps.”
Those things are worth paying for, despite some decline in Callahan’s performances. Zrebiec detailed how “it wasn’t long ago when Callahan was considered one of the better slot cornerbacks in football. He’s 31 now and has had some injury-marred seasons. Yet, last year for the Los Angeles Chargers, Callahan had 47 tackles, six pass breakups and three interceptions in 15 games.”
Numbers, experience and a talent for playing inside make Callahan an ideal pre-training camp addition for a Ravens franchise that loaded up on cheap veterans ahead of and during last season.
Well-Travelled Veteran Perfect for Ravens
Callahan has done the rounds across the league, taking in stops with the Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos and Chargers, but he’s usually been a consistent presence in the slot. His best season was 2018, when Callahan snagged a pair of interceptions, broke up 12 passes and logged two sacks.
An injury-hit 2021 season was forgotten about when Callahan returned to form with the Chargers. He allowed an 80.0 rating in coverage and remained an active presence in the pass rush, blitzing 16 times, per Pro Football Reference.
Callahan made a fast start to life with the Chargers, proving stingy in coverage, according to numbers from Pro Football Focus.
Bryce Callahan in his first two games with the Chargers:
⚡️ 65 coverage snaps
⚡️ 3 catches allowed (21 yards)
⚡️ 1 INT
⚡️ 6.3 passer rating allowed
That interception came against Derek Carr and the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1. Callahan was matched up against Raiders’ slot receiver Hunter Renfrow and was able to trail No. 13 across the field, before undercutting the route to make the pick.
3 INTs for Derek Carr today.
Bryce Callahan gets it.
The play was a good example of a savvy cover man reading the route and reacting. It’s the kind of highlight that should appeal to Ravens’ defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who calls a lot of pattern-match coverages, dating back to his days at Michigan, according to Zrebiec’s colleague Ted Nguyen: “At Michigan, Macdonald transitioned the defense from former defensive coordinator Don Brown’s man-heavy system to what was essentially a simpler version of Nick Saban’s and Kirby Smart’s man-match-heavy system.”
Callahan is a natural scheme fit for the what the Ravens like to do in coverage. He would also step into a role still defined by more questions than answers.
Ravens Need Help in the Slot
There isn’t an obvious candidate for the slot, and continuing to play Humphrey there would be far from ideal, given how effective the All-Pro is on the outside. He allowed 51 completions from 79 targets en route to earning his third Pro Bowl berth.
Humphrey still proved his worth in the slot by allowing a passer rating of just 60.4 from 127 snaps inside, according to Braxton Howard of Pro Football Focus. Yet, a proven commodity like Callahan handling the workload in the slot, would let Humphrey play more snaps on the outside, where things look thin with Marcus Peters still on the free agency market.
Peters was far from his best in 2022, but he’s still an opportunistic ball hawk who offers big plays for any secondary. Despite Peters’ pedigree, Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh appears content to roll into the season without him.
Instead, Harbaugh is prepared to rely on Brandon Stephens, Rock Ya-Sin, Kyu Blu Kelly, Jalyn Armour-Davis and Damarion Williams. There’s no issue with numbers, but Harbaugh ought to be concerned with the relative lack of experience at cornerback, where Williams and Armour-Davis are both entering their second years, while Kelly’s a rookie after being selected 157th overall in the 2023 NFL draft.
Harbaugh could feel better about the state of things with Callahan the designated slot corner, while Humphrey and Stephens line up outside.