Former Baltimore Ravens starter plans to play this season after retiring one year ago
Former Baltimore Ravens safety Tony Jefferson is coming out of retirement for the 2024 season.Jefferson, who announced his retirement almost exactly one year ago, intends to start talking to teams about a return, per Bleacher Report's Jordan Schultz. After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals, Jefferson played in Baltimore […]
Former Baltimore Ravens safety Tony Jefferson is coming out of retirement for the 2024 season.
Jefferson, who announced his retirement almost exactly one year ago, intends to start talking to teams about a return, per Bleacher Report's Jordan Schultz.
After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals, Jefferson played in Baltimore from 2017-19. He started 30 games from 2017-18, recording 153 tackles and two interceptions. He only played and started five games for the Ravens in 2019 before suffering a season-ending injury, and was released at the beginning of the 2020 offseason.
Jefferson found his way back to Baltimore in 2021 after playing two games for the San Francisco 49ers earlier in the year. Jefferson played the final four games of Baltimore's season.
The last game Jefferson played in was in 2022 with the New York Giants. He appeared in nine contests for New York during his ninth and final season.
Jefferson did spend the 2023 season in Baltimore, just not as a player. He was a scouting intern for the team.
Now 32 years of age, Jefferson wants to return to the playing field.
Baltimore would make sense for Jefferson to come back as a player. The team lost Geno Stone at the safety position this offseason to the Cincinnati Bengals and have added three rookies to fill the room out. The Ravens currently have six safeties on the roster at this time, but they're also at the 90-man limit for the offseason.
Offseason rosters are entirely fluid, and a player can easily be released for Jefferson to return. But if the former undrafted free agent wants a chance to start, Baltimore is not where that can happen with Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Williams established as the top two safeties in the defense.
A key backup role, on the other hand, could be Jefferson's by the start of the regular season if he wants it. It'll come down to what opportunities arise for him.
Zach Orr confirms key plans for debut season as Ravens defensive coordinator
Beneficial for the players.
