Rookie underdog strengthens case for Ravens roster spot with impact performance in 31-13 preseason win over Cowboys
The Ravens’ secondary has lost several young talents for the season already but one undrafted rookie appeared poised to take advantage of the opportunity.
The Baltimore Ravens‘ secondary has taken some hits in the past week and a half. Youngsters like Robert Longerbeam and Bilhal Kone have been placed on injured reserve, leaving more competition available for the Ravens at the bottom of their depth chart among players in the secondary. And in Baltimore’s 31-13 victory over the Cowboys in Dallas on Saturday, one of the less-heralded members of that young collection firmly threw his hat into the ring to make this team.
The Ravens have plenty of star power at the top of their depth chart. But undrafted rookie defender Keyon Martin is going to make it difficult for the Ravens to cut him at the end of the month when trimming the roster to 53 players.
Undrafted rookie Keyon Martin makes a huge statement in Baltimore’s preseason win over Cowboys
It wasn’t just Martin’s sack of Cowboys quarterback Joe Milton III in the end zone on the first third-down of the game for Dallas — although plays by the defense that put points on the board obviously garner plenty of attention in isolation. Martin, who is a 24-year-old undrafted rookie out of Louisiana-Lafayette, illustrated three separate avenues of impact across his first four reps on defense against Dallas.
The first came on a second-down perimeter run with the Cowboys backed up to their own 3-yard line. Martin, pressed on the outside receiver against a condensed formation, used his hands to stack the block, get width and shoot upfield to log a tackle for loss. The second rep came on the following play, with Martin aligned in the nickel, this time off the left side, and again pressed up on the line of scrimmage. Martin came on a blitz and folded in behind fellow rookie Mike Green to shoot the B-gap. Martin ear-holed Milton III and wrestled him to the ground for two points.
The first play of Dallas’ next possession, Martin aligned as the right perimeter cornerback. Situated with inside leverage and playing off the ball, Martin was faced with triggering and rallying to make the tackle on the perimeter against a short hitch — which he did successfully to limit the gain to just two yards.
Martin’s ability to assimilate to Baltimore’s secondary this summer is impressive given that he played five years of college ball between Youngstown State and Louisiana-Lafayette and played 149 total snaps in the nickel across five seasons of ball and over 2,500 career snaps. He’s logged nearly half of his college career snaps in the nickel through two preseason with the Ravens this month.
Being diverse in this manner is the critical key for bottom of the roster players to make the team at the NFL level. The Ravens appear to have found someone with all the right stuff to stick in Martin — and now it’s up to Eric DeCosta, John Harbaugh and company to make the numbers work. If they don’t, don’t be surprised if someone else does. The film is good and there’s no such thing as too many good coverage options.
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