Baltimore Ravens' Will Hill: The Savior of the Season

If we’re being honest about the current state of the Baltimore Ravens secondary, it is definitely the weakest point of the team. Some of that is due to an unfortunate injury to Jimmy Smith who is now on injured reserve, and also an injury for Asa Jackson, who was placed on short-term injured reserve and cannot return till December 7th against the Miami Dolphins.

There has been underperformance from the safety position, which has experienced no injuries thus far. The starting safeties from Week 1 were Darian Stewart, who is a converted strong safety now playing free safety, and former first-round pick Matt Elam.

Stewart and Elam starting together has honestly been painful to watch. They are practically the same safety playing two positions on the field. Stewart and Elam are both great in run support and have had their fair share of punishing hits, but they are lacking in the most important part of being a safety, coverage.

Enter Will Hill. Only July 25th of this year, the Ravens signed Will Hill to a one-year deal. Hill was suspended for the first six games of the season because he violated the substance abuse and PED policy multiple times while with the Giants.

The Giants were fed up with his off-the-field issues and they released him after his suspension of six games. There was never a doubt about Hill’s talent, only his availability to stay on the field.

Hill has been the bright spot in the secondary after Jimmy Smith went down. The Ravens seem to be running a four-man rotation at safety with Matt Elam, Darian Stewart, Will Hill and Terrence Brooks. Will Hill played 55 snaps, which was the most out of all the safeties last week against the Titans (which I absolutely love). For now, Elam is considered the starter even though he played only 15 snaps, the least amount of snaps out of all the safeties last week.

Hill, since returning Week 7, has steadily seen increased snaps as the Ravens coaches see how valuable he is. Hopes were high that he would play well in his return and he has certainly delivered.

Will Hill can be a catalyst in the secondary and even possibly be the savior of this season. For the Baltimore Ravens to go where they want to go, they must improve the secondary. The Ravens may have finally discovered their corners as well. Danny Gorrer and Anthony Levine performed fantastically in their debut.

Baltimore Ravens’ Will Hill: The Savior of the Season

By Cole Moog | Nov 15, 2014