Kyle Hamilton has become the kind of defender Baltimore can build around, but the Ravens know better than to build everything around him.
That’s the tension hanging over training camp as the Ravens get ready for their first padded practice Monday: Hamilton is still the centerpiece, still the chess piece who can tilt a game, but the real question is whether the defense can hold together when he’s not out there.
The All-Pro safety has been that important for years, first under Mike Macdonald, then Zach Orr, and now Jesse Minter. Hamilton’s game gives Baltimore rare freedom.
He can cover wideouts and tight ends. He can work in zone or man.
He can blitz, roam deep, or play almost like an extra linebacker without forcing the Ravens to give up flexibility elsewhere. That’s a huge part of why Minter calls him a “weapon.”
Hamilton, though, has seen firsthand how much the Ravens’ defense can wobble when he’s unavailable. Last season he missed only one game and couldn’t finish another because of injury, and the results were brutal.
In Week 5, with Hamilton, Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey and Lamar Jackson all out, Baltimore didn’t force a punt until the fourth quarter of a 44-10 loss to the Houston Texans. In Week 18, Hamilton played 39 defensive snaps in a must-win game, helping the Ravens hold the Pittsburgh Steelers to 3.9 yards per play and a field goal before a concussion knocked him out early in the third quarter.
After that, Pittsburgh finished with 6.9 yards per play and 26 points, and Baltimore’s season ended with Hamilton watching helplessly.
That’s why the conversation around him this offseason has gone beyond how much more dominant he can be. It’s also about survival.
“Obviously, as you know, it is not an ‘if’ but ‘when’ injuries happen in our sport,” Hamilton, who’s missed just three games over the past three seasons but has left a handful of others, said Wednesday. “Somebody is going to have to step up at some point this season.
It could be halftime of Week 1. It could be Week 18 to keep your season alive.
To that point, [if] we lose people like Roquan or” - here, he paused to look around for a slab of wood to knock on, just in case - “whoever it is, leaders of our team offense, defense, special teams, obviously, those are going to be big holes to fill.
“But at the end of the day you are expected to come in there and do your job. So I think it is a detailed thing that has been emphasized so far, and it is going to pay off later in the season.”
Baltimore has spent the offseason trying to make that idea more than just lip service. The Ravens already know what Hamilton can do, but they also know the defense needs more than one player capable of changing the math.
Last year, the team expected that kind of help nearly everywhere. Instead, Nnamdi Madubuike went down with a season-ending neck injury in Week 2, Odafe Oweh lost favor, Smith opened slowly, and Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey struggled at corner.
The end result was a defense that finished 16th in overall efficiency, according to FTN.
This year looks different. Minter, who was one of the NFL’s top head coaching candidates this offseason, is back in the building.
Anthony Weaver returned after earning head coaching interviews of his own. The Ravens also added two new starters in Trey Hendrickson and Jaylinn Hawkins, and they have a group of young players that has raised hope for a top-10 unit, including Travis Jones, Mike Green and Hamilton.
Even the depth chart has become part of the answer. Malaki Starks has slot experience and was active throughout the first week of camp.
Humphrey has also played inside, though he has lined up mostly outside this summer. Keyon Martin has made plays in the slot, including a Saturday interception off Jackson.
None of them matches Hamilton as a run defender, but the Ravens have more options now than they did a year ago.
Up front, there’s also reason for optimism if Calais Campbell pairs with a healthy Madubuike.
“We are doing everything we can right now,” Weaver said Friday. “From early in camp and the offseason, we are trying to get confident.
We are trying to learn it all. Now we are trying to build confidence where hopefully we can flip that into a flow state at one point where all 11 of us are moving as one and we all know where everybody is going to be.
We can just attack.”
The numbers tell the same story Baltimore has lived. In 2023, opposing quarterbacks averaged 5.6 yards per attempt with Hamilton on the field and 7.4 with him off it, according to Sports Info Solutions.
In 2024, the Ravens allowed 27 points to the Cincinnati Bengals in just over 31 minutes after Hamilton hurt his ankle in a shootout win. In 2025, quarterbacks completed 63.3% of their passes against Ravens defenses with Hamilton playing and 76.6% when he wasn’t.
Minter has no interest in pretending Hamilton is replaceable. He just wants the rest of the defense to be sturdy enough that Baltimore doesn’t have to find out the hard way.
“My appreciation for Kyle grows every second I’m around him,” Minter said Saturday. “He’s so fun to be around.
He’s so fun to sit in a meeting with. He thinks football.
He has a great sense of humor. We are building a good relationship where we can now talk about a lot of stuff beyond football.
And then, what he can do on the field, he is one of one.”
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