Secondary Changes Can Only Help the Baltimore Ravens
It was clear that something needed to change in the secondary for the Baltimore Ravens after nine weeks of sluggish performances. Through the first nine games of the 2014 season, they have given up 2,369 yards through the air, which is the fourth-most in the league.
Those numbers are in the company of teams like Houston, Jacksonville, and Tampa Bay. You never want to be mentioned in the same sentence as them, no matter what the situation is.
The safeties have been the biggest issue. Matt Elam was picked in the first round of last year’s draft, but he has not performed like a first-rounder in 2014. Tackling was supposed to be his strong-suit, but he has missed tackles left and right. Oh and don’t even get me started about the way he has performed in the coverage game.
With him and Darian Stewart struggling to cover receivers, the Ravens have had to experiment quite a bit. They put rookie Terrence Brooks out there for a shot, which failed, and then they put their trust into the abilities of recently suspended safety Will Hill. He has played pretty well, but ha hasn’t had such a large impact either.
And the cornerbacks haven’t exactly helped the cause ether. Starting corner Lardarius Webb missed most of the first four games of the season, and when he returned, he did not look the same. Slowly but surely he looks to be finding his game again, but he’s not there yet. With the exception of Jimmy Smith, who is currently battling a foot injury, no one has performed well at all in the secondary.
All this has led to the Ravens making some moves. Just a few days ago, they released the constantly struggling Chykie Brown and the recently acquired Dominique Franks. I am in favor of both those moves, because those players had to go. In exchange, they acquired one of their former players in Danny Gorrer.
At 6-foot, 180 pounds, Gorrer is a very fast corner, as he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2009, and has only recorded one interception since the beginning of his career. Even with that being said, he has some talent, and he can’t possibly worsen the situation in the Ravens’ secondary.
They did not make any big moves, but they did make a couple of small moves. I take two positive things out of that: One, they know there is a problem and they are trying their hardest to fix it. And secondly, sometimes changing things up helps no matter how drastic the changes are.