Play like a Raven: Daxton Hill
The Jacksonville Jaguars were a sorry team this past season. And of their many inglorious statistical marks, their turnover percentage ranks historically low. That percentage for this past season was 4.3%. That mark is the second lowest single season turnover percentage this century.
This isn’t pile-on the Jags time, but you can see I still hold a grudge over that Wembley game.
The Jags were one of only three teams worse than the Ravens in turnover percentage. The others were the hapless New York Jets and the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders being the most predictable defense I’ve seen since Ravens red-zone plays with the game on the line when Dean Pees was calling plays. You’ve got to hand it to Gus Bradley, he ran his scheme even though most of the league seemed to have worked out what was coming next – spoiler alert, it was Cover 3.
This is to illustrate that the Ravens, normally known for a ball-hawking, fearsome defense, have kept the Seven Nation Army plays to a minimum at M&T Bank Stadium this year.
It’s why I embark on this Draft season in search of defensive playmakers. In this, my first piece about the 2022 draft for my site Red Star Baltimore, I may have already found one.
The Ravens have invested significant resource in the back-end in recent times and I’m betting on this trend continuing. Everything we hear out of the organization suggests that coverage is more important than pressure to them.
While Brandon Stephens is the man they likely want to fill the more traditional single-high coverage role, and he continues to develop as a Defensive Back at an impressive rate given his lack of playing time at the position, there is still a place for other Defensive Backs to be added in this draft. That’s likely at the Cornerback position where the Ravens probably need to future-proof the opposite side to Marlon Humphrey but I wouldn’t rule out a playmaking Safety who Wink can use as a weapon.
They’ve looked for this type with later round picks and undrafted free agency pick-ups but haven’t yet found the guy.
A look at Daxton Hill’s stats and you’d think that four career interceptions at Michigan doesn’t scream “ball-hawk” but his processing, his speed and his ball skills project to a play-making role at the next level.
This year, I’m putting together a draft report that will focus on the 2022 prospects from a Ravens perspective. Evaluating prospects generically without a team in mind can be difficult. The projection you make about a player will be significantly affected by the team you’re considering them for. There are so many schematic variables in the NFL that putting together reports for players that look to take into account all scheme and philosophical variations across the league is a challenge.
That’s why, each of my reports will feature a section that makes a projection about the player and then projects their fit with the Ravens. You’ll get the full report later in this draft season but when I designate a red star player – one who fits perfectly with the Ravens, I’ll publish that report early in one of these pieces entitled “Play Like a Raven”. Here’s the first, on Daxton Hill…
(Overall Ranking, Positional Ranking and Measurables to follow in the full report)
