OWINGS MILLS — The Ravens have one of the best starting safety tandems in the NFL in Pro-Bowler Kyle Hamilton and veteran Marcus Williams.
However, they need depth behind those players, especially with Williams’ injury history over the last two seasons. In 2022, Williams was placed on injured reserve with a dislocated wrist in Week 5 and later was activated on December 10th. Last season, Williams suffered a torn pectoral in his left shoulder in the season opener and missed six games, but he still finished with 55 combined tackles, eight pass breakups and an interception,
The main competition for the backup could be between fourth-year player Ar’Darius Washington and Sanoussi Kane, a 2024 seventh-round draft pick from Purdue.
“Ar’Darius is really a good player,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “[It’s] just a matter of him staying healthy and getting some time on task, and he can play safety or nickel, can go outside and get you out – [he’s] a very diverse player. I’m a big Ar’Darius fan. I think he’s going to have a great year. Then, Sanoussi is a guy that we were talking about right at the end – it’s so much love between the scouts and the coaches.
“In some ways, he’s kind of similar to that guy from Iowa whose name will not be mentioned because he’s playing in the division here. But, we appreciate Geno [Stone] and all he did for us.”
Washington has played a lot of nickel, but he has also dealt with injuries and has appeared in eight games over three seasons. Last year, Washington was placed on injured reserve after suffering a chest injury in Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals. He did return in January and signed a one-year, $985,000 contract with the Ravens this offseason.
Kane played in 26 games over the last two seasons as a starter at Purdue. He had 161 career tackles, including 11 for loss, broke up 10 passes, and forced three fumbles. Kane can also make the Ravens roster as a special teams player.
The job for the backup safety job will be interesting to watch throughout training camp.
“We don’t draft a lot of non-Combine players, but with Sanoussi, it kind of harkens back to Haruki Nakamura who we drafted, who was a non-Combine guy back in the day,” DeCosta said. “Sanoussi is a guy that does a lot of things well; [he’s] a tough player, I think he’s got good ball skills, [he] should play on special teams.”