The Ravens made a change to their league-worst secondary ahead of a Week 12 Monday night matchup against the Chargers.

The Baltimore Ravens have struggled all season against opposing quarterbacks as the team has the league’s worst passing defense. While there was plenty of blame to go around for Baltimore’s Week 11 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Eddie Jackson wasn’t at fault. The veteran safety was a healthy scratch against the Steelers.

Week 11 marked the second benching of the season for the eighth-year pro, and on Saturday, the Ravens announced they have waived Jackson, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero on X.

The Ravens signed Jackson to a one-year, $1.5 million deal prior to the 2024 season. The former fourth-round draft pick spent the first seven years of his career with the Chicago Bears where he was named a first-team All-Pro in 2018 and was selected to two Pro Bowls.

Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith played a large role in bringing Jackson to Baltimore. The two spent five seasons together in Chicago before Smith was traded to the Ravens in 2022.

In nine games with Baltimore this season, Jackson had 30 combined tackles, 18 solo take downs, one pass defended, and zero sacks, interceptions, and forced fumbles. As a whole, the Ravens’ secondary has struggled mightily as the team’s veteran defenders have played poorly.

The Ravens are moving on from veteran safety Eddie Jackson

Baltimore also benched Marcus Williams in Week 11. The team signed the free safety to a five-year, $70 million contract in 2022, but his uneven play this season led to head coach John Harbaugh playing Ar’Darius Washington in Williams’ place.

Kyle Hamilton was able to play through an ankle injury in Week 11 and recently acquired cornerback Tre’Davious White made his Ravens debut against the Steelers. Overall, the revamped secondary played fairly well, holding the red-hot Russell Wilson to just 205 passing yards with no touchdowns and one interception.

Despite the 18-16 loss to Pittsburgh, the Ravens’ defense kept the team in the game and showed marked improvements over a nightmare Week 10 outing against the Cincinnati Bengals, in which Baltimore gave up 428 passing yards and four touchdowns to Joe Burrow.

Bengals’ wideout Ja’Marr Chase had 11 receptions for 264 yards and three scores against the Ravens in Week 10, setting an NFL record for the most receiving yards (457) against one team in a single season. Baltimore managed to win that game 35-34, but veteran safety Marlon Humphrey trashed the defense’s performance.

Lamar Jackson produced a career-best fourth quarter to help the Ravens overcome the Bengals. Baltimore’s dynamic offense has masked a subpar defense all season, leading the team to a 7-4 record.

Baltimore will travel to Los Angeles to take on the 7-3 Chargers on Monday Night Football in Week 12. It will be the third meeting between the Harbaugh brothers with John holding a 2-0 advantage over Jim, including the Ravens’ victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.