• A healthy Humphrey means little separation: Humphrey ranks sixth among cornerbacks in PFF's Lockdown Report, boasting a 64.0% lockdown percentage.
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Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
The Baltimore Ravens haven’t been great against the pass through the first three weeks of the season, and that’s probably why this is going largely unnoticed, but cornerback Marlon Humphrey looks to be back to his best in their secondary.
An injury-plagued 2023 season saw him earn a career-low 65.3 PFF grade, including a PFF coverage grade of 63.2. But if the opening three weeks of the season are anything to go by, he’s back to being one of the better cornerbacks in football.
Sticky coverage
Recently, PFF launched a new metric called the Lockdown Report, which highlights just how sticky Humphrey has been in coverage this season.
This metric measures how well a defender prevents a receiver from getting open but excludes plays where the defender intentionally gives up space to protect the first-down marker or limit yards after the catch to give a better indication of who is locking down receivers the best.
This season, Humphrey ranks sixth among cornerbacks in the Lockdown Report, boasting a 64.0% lockdown percentage. He was at his best this past week, with a 70.8% lockdown percentage in the win over the Dallas Cowboys, fifth among cornerbacks in Week 3.
An example of how well he’s playing came in the first quarter. It came on third-and-15 with 12:18 left in the quarter. Humphrey is physical, staying close to wide receiver Brandin Cooks before swatting the ball away as he tried to make the catch.
Feel like it's not getting much attention because of the Ravens general struggles against the pass, but Marlon Humphrey is playing really well so far in 2024 pic.twitter.com/EAsEdJXQ3L
— Gordon McGuinness (@PFF_Gordon) September 25, 2024
With first-round draft pick Nate Wiggins back on the field, the Ravens were able to move Humphrey around, using him as an outside cornerback in base defensive sets and kicking him inside, with Wiggins and Brandon Stephens on the outside.
That versatility, along with how sticky he has been in coverage — allowing 73 yards in coverage through three weeks and coming away with a pair of pass breakups — has him back to his best right now.
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