Vote for the Baltimore Ravens’ Defensive Player of the Year.
The 2024-2025 NFL season is complete, but before the chapter is closed, we want a final look at the joys that came from the Baltimore Ravens’ season.
So, let’s celebrate the successes by handing out our second-annual Baltimore Beatdown Awards. Today, we continue with Defensive Player of the Year.
Beatdown contributors will offer up our nominees, but the winner is ultimately decided by you, the reader, with a poll at each article’s end.
Baltimore Beatdown’s Defensive Player of the Year
Kyle Phoenix: Kyle Hamilton
Throughout Hamilton’s career, he’s been an impact player on the stat sheet and it’s easy to note his effectiveness through the numbers and accolades. In Year 1, he excelled. In Year 2, he took a seismic leap and earned First Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors. His numbers were easily able to back it up, with 13 passes defended, four interceptions (one returned for touchdown) and three sacks. In his third season, while the numbers weren’t so gaudy, he was a crucial element to the defense’s adjustments.
Throughout history, few players prove they can be more than a top-tier box safety. Moving from the line of scrimmage to a deep safety role is a significant risk for defenses. But the move for Hamilton vastly improved the Ravens’ pass defense.
With the defense in shambles for 10 weeks, Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr called a risky gamble to move one of his premier impact players from the front line to the back end, and it course-corrected the season.
Hamilton finished the season earning Pro Bowl and Second Team All-Pro honors, this time as a deep safety. He still stuffed the stat sheet with 107 tackles (career high), nine passes defensed, two forced fumbles, an interception and two sacks, which in turn earned him ninth place in defensive player of the year voting.
Joshua Reed: CB Marlon Humphrey
After his 2023 season was marred by nagging injuries, Humphrey was viewed from the outside looking in as a depreciating asset heading into 2024 despite being one year removed from not allowing a single touchdown in 2022. Humphrey didn’t just return to form, he was the absolute best version of himself this past season. Known more for his knack for taking the ball away as a result of forced fumbles with his signature fruit punch move, Humphrey showed an ability to be a ballhawk that he never had before. He recorded the most interceptions on the team and AFC as a whole with a career-high six and he forced a pair of fumbles.
His turnovers weren’t fluky or a result of luck, they were often timely and a result of great instincts and anticipation. In several games when the Ravens needed a clutch stop or splash play to swing momentum back in their favor, Humphrey was the one who stepped up and made the play. Some prime examples included his late interception of Joe Burrow in the first matchup with the Bengals, ripping the ball away from Chase Brown in the second, picking off Baker Mayfield twice in one half against the Buccaneers and recording his first career pick-six to slam the door on a Steelers comeback attempt to end a four-game losing streak to their rivals.
Humphrey proved he is well worth being part of the Ravens’ plans for the foreseeable future as he continues to stake his claim as one of–if not–the best corner in franchise history.
Zach Canter: Marlon Humphrey
After a couple of down years mixed with some injuries, there were lingering questions about Marlon Humphrey and whether he could ever get close to his All-Pro ceiling of play again. This season, Humphrey answered those questions and more has he not only got close but once again became All-Pro Marlo.
Not only did he lead the team in interceptions by a wide margin this year, but was also top five in the league this year. His interceptions weren’t random either. A lot of his picks were game changing plays. The pick against Burrow late in the first Bengals game gave the Ravens the chance to complete the comeback. His two interceptions in early in the Bucs game were massive when the game was still close. His pick-6 in the Steelers win picked up the team after Lamar Jackson threw his fourth interception of the season. Even his pick in the Steelers loss was massive and helped keep the game within reach.
If there were questions about whether Humphrey would be on the Ravens in 2025 with his massive cap hit, they’ve been answered. He’ll be here, the defense needs him. The question is whether or not the Humphrey and the team will work out a different contract with a new cap number.
Zachary Siegel: Marlon Humphrey
In 2024, Marlon Humphrey got back to “All Pro Marlo” form. Between injuries and a couple less than stellar seasons, he finally became the player the Ravens envisioned when he received his contract back in 2020.
This season he ranked among the best cornerbacks in the league, but his leadership is what separated him as the DPOY. Throughout early defensive struggles and the woes of his fellow DB’s, Humphrey continued to be a bright spot in an otherwise lackluster defense.
Marlon Humphrey came up clutch in a few situations this season, including the interception back in Week 5 against the Cincinnati Bengals. That play completely turned the tides of the game leading to an instant classic victory for the Ravens and a huge momentum shift in the season.
Humphrey was awarded a captain’s patch for the playoffs and has secured himself once again as a staple of this defense.