{"id":49681,"date":"2025-05-20T07:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T07:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49681"},"modified":"2025-05-20T07:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T07:55:12","slug":"steelers-ex-hard-nosed-free-agent-labeled-best-fit-free-agent-for-ravens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49681","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Ex \u2018Hard-Nosed\u2019 Free Agent Labeled &#8216;Best Fit&#8217; Free Agent for Ravens"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"m-detail-header--dek\">The Baltimore Ravens are desperate to improve one of the league&#8217;s worst secondaries from a season ago.<\/div>\n<div class=\"m-detail-header--flexbox\">\n<div class=\"m-detail-header--meta\">\n<div class=\"m-description--list\">\n<p>The\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0posted an\u00a0NFL-best 12-5 mark last season and dominated the regular season. They stalled in the playoffs with a 27-25 loss to the\u00a0Buffalo Bills\u00a0in the Divisional Round and were sent home before a chance at another\u00a0Super Bowl.<\/p>\n<p>One big deficiency on defense last season was the pass defense. Baltimore ranked 31st of 32 teams, allowing 4,468 yards through the air from opposing offenses. Only the\u00a0Jacksonville Jaguars\u00a0were worse.<\/p>\n<p>The Ravens&#8217; defense also allowed 27 passing touchdowns, 10th-worst in the league.<\/p>\n<p>General manager Eric DeCosta addressed the secondary this offseason, signing former\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0and\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0safety Chidobe Awuzie to fill the hole opposite Nate Wiggins, while veteran Marlon Humphrey once again fills the slot.<\/p>\n<p>But more is needed.<\/p>\n<p>NFL Trade Rumors believes\u00a0Baltimore should sign free agent cornerback Mike Hilton to bolster the outside of the secondary.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hilton just feels like an AFC North player, and the Ravens are always on the lookout for cornerbacks given the annual attrition they seem to suffer in the secondary,&#8221;\u00a0Ulrich wrote. It&#8217;s started already with the loss of safety Ar&#8217;Darius Washington, who played a fair amount in the slot last year. Hilton would give the Bengals some flexibility with where to align other players and fit right in as a hard-nosed, smart contributor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hilton fought his way back into the starting lineup as a former undrafted free agent all the way back in 2017 with the Steelers. &#8230; Since then, he&#8217;s been a fixture as one of the. league&#8217;s best slot corners with 123 games played for Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\">\n<div class=\"m-in-content-ad not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\" data-zone-count=\"3\">\n<div class=\"not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d m-in-content-ad is-loaded\">\n<div id=\"ad-in_content-458d7a2b5f324aa2bac253d81482762d\" data-google-query-id=\"CL7SttnIsY0DFXeL6QUd6_8nbw\" data-ad-size=\"300x250\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/88059007\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/baltimore-ravens_7__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/88059007\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/baltimore-ravens_7\" tabindex=\"0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_\/88059007\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/baltimore-ravens_7\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" aria-label=\"Advertisement\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-google-container-id=\"8\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The Ravens&#8217; secondary was bad last season. Really bad. DeCosta drafted Georgia safety Malaki Starks in the first round this year, along with Western Michigan corner Bilhal Kone in the sixth.<\/p>\n<p>While Starks could have an immediate impact, Kone is more of a project. DeCosta needs to explore all avenues to make improvements. Hilton could be a good start.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mm-embed-card--list\">\n<div class=\"m-card--media\"><a class=\"m-card--image-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/baltimore-ravens\/baltimore-ravens-and-derrick-henry-make-history-with-official-30-million-signing\" rel=\"\"><picture class=\"is-loaded\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_220\/MjE0ODk5MzA0OTgzMTc2OTk2\/usatsi_25172195.webp 220w, https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_320\/MjE0ODk5MzA0OTgzMTc2OTk2\/usatsi_25172195.webp 320w, https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_640\/MjE0ODk5MzA0OTgzMTc2OTk2\/usatsi_25172195.webp 640w\" type=\"image\/webp\" sizes=\"220px\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_220\/MjE0ODk5MzA0OTgzMTc2OTk2\/usatsi_25172195.jpg 220w, https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_320\/MjE0ODk5MzA0OTgzMTc2OTk2\/usatsi_25172195.jpg 320w, https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_640\/MjE0ODk5MzA0OTgzMTc2OTk2\/usatsi_25172195.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"220px\" \/><\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Baltimore Ravens are desperate to improve one of the league&#8217;s worst secondaries from a season ago. The\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0posted an\u00a0NFL-best 12-5 mark last season and dominated the&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Steelers Ex \u2018Hard-Nosed\u2019 Free Agent Labeled &#039;Best Fit&#039; Free Agent for Ravens - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49681\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steelers Ex \u2018Hard-Nosed\u2019 Free Agent Labeled &#039;Best Fit&#039; Free Agent for Ravens - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Baltimore Ravens are desperate to improve one of the league&#8217;s worst secondaries from a season ago. 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