Ravens Rookie K Tyler Loop Facing Undrafted Competition
On the third day of this year’s draft, the Ravens drafted a kicker for the first time in their 30-year history, taking Arizona’s Tyler Loop with the 186th pick. Despite getting undercut by the Patriots, who took the first kicker of the draft four picks earlier, the Ravens insisted that Loop was always their intended target. According to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, though, Loop’s path to the 53-man roster will not be unchallenged.
At the conclusion of the Ravens’ Organized Team Activities and mandatory minicamp, Zrebiec listed a number of players whose stock went up or down. Loop was included as a player whose stock was trending down. While, at times, Loop showed his big leg with some long conversions, there were multiple reports of days in which he struggled with both consistency and accuracy from distance.
Per Zrebiec, Loop is making some changes to his technique and kicking motions at the behest of the team’s senior special teams coach, Randy Brown. While that may be contributing to his early issues, it’s concerning to see the drafted kicker struggle. One could also account it to the pressure of replacing the most accurate kicker in NFL history, but playing for a perennial playoff contender, pressure is something Loop is going to have to deal with.
There’s added pressure on Loop from some competition that the Ravens brought in shortly after the draft. One of the team’s undrafted free agents this year was Wyoming kicker John Hoyland. Neither kicker was very accurate during their collegiate years. Loop started strong, going 30 for 33 in his first two years for the Wildcats, but he missed 10 of 47 field goal attempts in his final two years. Hoyland had two excellent, separate years going a combined 35 of 39 in the 2020 and 2022 seasons. The other three years told a very different story as he missed 15 of 53 attempts.
In the offseason, both players have had good days and bad days, but reports seem to indicate that Hoyland has done enough to put himself in a legitimate kicking competition with the player on whom Baltimore used a draft pick. The Ravens are notorious for finding diamonds in the undrafted rough, having fielded undrafted rookies on their Week 1 roster in 20 of the past 21 seasons. Of this year’s undrafted crop, Zrebiec gives Hoyland the best chance of making the roster via his kicking competition with Loop.
91 percent of the made field goals in Ravens history have come off the leg of either Matt Stover (only drafted because drafts were 12 rounds in 1990) and Justin Tucker (undrafted). Despite the team finally using a draft pick on a kicker, there’s a chance they may turn to an undrafted leg yet again.
Patriots Kept K Andy Borregales From Falling To Ravens
Make no mistake, the Patriots were in dire need of a kicker, and to address this, they took Miami kicker Andy Borregales with the 182nd pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. New England was strategic about where they selected Borregales, though, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
Drafting kickers is a notoriously risky proposition. To illustrate, from 2010-16, only 11 kickers were selected through the NFL draft. Of those 11 drafted kickers, only three — Greg Zuerlein, Randy Bullock, and Dustin Hopkins — are still in the NFL today. In the meantime, several undrafted kickers have made impressive careers for themselves. Justin Tucker is the prime example, as he ended his time in Baltimore with him holding the highest field goal conversion percentage in NFL history. Players like Brandon Aubrey, Chris Boswell, Cameron Dicker, and Younghoe Koo have all followed in Tucker’s footsteps as undrafted standouts in recent years.
For this reason, teams tend to wait as long as possible before drafting a kicker. Not doing so has historically bit the teams who spent significant draft capital on the position. Former second-round kicker Roberto Aguayo only lasted one season in Tampa Bay and never kicked in the league after getting waived by the team that drafted him. More recently, Jake Moody was drafted by the 49ers in the third round. After struggling through an injury-riddled sophomore campaign last year, San Francisco brought in a veteran to compete with him this summer.
The Patriots knew they were going to add a kicker at some point in the offseason, but in the sixth round of the draft, one certain factor led them to pull the trigger on Borregales. Per Reiss, the Patriots brass knew that Baltimore was going to be looking to draft a kicker at some point to address Tucker’s troubling legal situation. Four picks in front of the Ravens, they tabbed Borregales. Baltimore ended up with Arizona’s Tyler Loop instead, who has reportedly been struggling so far in offseason activities.
Regardless, Borregales stands to be a key player in New England’s rookie class. Borregales never converted less that 80 percent of his kicks in four years with the Hurricanes, and he ended his time in Coral Gables with his strongest season. In a high-scoring offense led by No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward, Borregales did his part converting all 62 extra point attempts and 18 of 19 field goals attempts, including a 56-yarder.
For a team that, for so long, relied on the legs of consistent stars like Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski, Borregales represents a hope that the team will return to that norm of consistency. In the years following their decision to move on from Gostkowski, Reiss points out that the Patriots rank 22nd in field goal success rate and 27th in extra point success rate. The Patriots made a move they hope will get them back on the right track, and they did it by taking the first kicker in the draft, just out of reach of the kicker-hungry Ravens.
Steelers Likely Out On CB Jalen Ramsey
Speculation continues as the Dolphins work to trade veteran cornerback Jalen Ramsey. In an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network claimed that he doesn’t believe Pittsburgh is a trade destination for the three-time All-Pro. 
Since 2022, the Steelers secondary has been uncharacteristically average, while last year saw them become even less characteristically porous, as they finished the season having given up the eighth-most passing yards in the NFL. Safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott are reliable veterans in the defensive backfield, but the team’s cornerbacks had a disappointing showing in 2024.
The Steelers exchanged veterans in free agency, watching Donte Jackson walk while signing Darius Slay to a one-year, $10MM deal. Slay instantly becomes the best cornerback on the roster, though at 34 years old, there’s always a chance that this is the year his effectiveness begins to dip. Slay should start across from Joey Porter Jr., who saw a bit of decline in his sophomore campaign. Porter allowed completions on nearly 63 percent of the passes in which he was the primary defender, and Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded him as the 99th-best cornerback in the league out of 116 graded players.
The next two cornerbacks on the depth chart are James Pierre and Cory Trice, who both graded out better than Porter in 2024, but neither player played in more that 16 percent of the team’s defensive snaps last year. While Beanie Bishop and Cameron Sutton are also available, they play almost exclusively in the slot for Pittsburgh. Plus, PFF wasn’t too kind to them either.
With this all in mind, it would make perfect sense for the Steelers to inquire about acquiring Ramsey, like they did with Fitzpatrick six years ago. But Rapoport made it clear to McAfee and company that that’s not a likely scenario. Instead, he continues to push the narrative that a return to the Rams makes “the most sense” for Ramsey. Rapoport posits that the money involved in this deal is the thing that has consistently been keeping it from getting done.
Pittsburgh, though, will move forward with its current group. The team will hope to see developed improvement from young impact players like Porter and Bishop, while also hoping that this year’s veteran, Slay, can help foster more success in the position room.
Multiple Starting Jobs Up For Grabs On Texans OL
With Laremy Tunsil, Shaq Mason, and Kenyon Green all missing from the roster in 2025, the Texans had an interesting challenge in filling out their offensive line this offseason. There are lots of new faces, only one returning full-time starter, and according to Mike Jones of The Athletic, almost every starting job appears to be up for grabs. 
The lone returning full-time starter is Tytus Howard. While he’s likely certain to be destined for a starting job, Houston has been working Howard at both right guard and right tackle in the offseason. This isn’t new to Howard, though. Since getting drafted in the first round in 2019, Howard has started 48 games at right tackle, 27 games at left guard, and four games at left tackle for the Texans.
Right guard would be a new position, but Howard has swapped sides and positions for the team frequently in the past. He likely won’t be going back to left guard, though, since free agent addition Laken Tomlinson seemingly has that job locked down.
When Howard’s working at right guard, rookie second-round tackle Aireontae Ersery and last year’s second-round tackle, Blake Fisher, have been splitting snaps at the position. Ersery has also been splitting snaps with veteran free agent addition Cam Robinson on the blind side.
Robinson has spent his entire NFL career as a left tackle, and it’s hard to imagine the team is paying him $12MM this year to sit on the bench. More likely, Robinson is expected to start at left tackle while Ersery is competing for the right tackle job and cross training at left tackle to either prepare for a role as a swing tackle or prepare to start there in case Robinson gets injured. Last year was only the second time in Robinson’s eight-year career that he played in every game of a single season.
The majority of Ersery’s experience at Minnesota was at left tackle; he started one game at right tackle in his COVID-shortened freshman year. Fisher was almost the opposite. His first ever start for the Fighting Irish came a left tackle before starting at right tackle for the rest of his collegiate career. This could give Fisher the edge over Ersery in that position battle, but so far, there doesn’t appear to be a clear leader.
Much like the last two seasons in Houston, the center position seems extremely undecided. In 2023, Michael Deiter and Jarrett Patterson split time at the position, while in 2024, it was Patterson and Juice Scruggs splitting time. Patterson and Scruggs are back to compete for the job in 2025, but the Texans claimed former Patriots center Jake Andrews off of waivers back in April, and he has tossed his hat into the ring, as well.
The good news is that whoever wins the starting job, the Texans should have plenty of depth. The loser of the tackle competitions will be a capable backup, the losers of the center battle will be available to fill in as backups on the interior, and if Howard shifts in across from Tomlinson at guard, trade acquisition Ed Ingram will be a backup with 41 starts under his belt. The bad news is that, if nobody is convincingly winning a starting job, the winner might not pan out as a starter.
In summation, Robinson and Tomlinson likely have the left side locked down. Ersery or Fisher could win the right tackle spot, pushing Howard inside to right guard, but if neither player proves capable of starting, Howard could bookend the line with Robinson with Ersery and Fisher as backups. If Howard isn’t starting at guard, Ingram and the losers of the center battle can compete at right guard, and of course, the winner of the center battle — whomever that may be — with be the center.
Another year, another new-look offensive line in Houston. After allowing the third-most sacks in the NFL last season, it makes sense that they’d want it to look significantly different, but now they have the rest of the summer to determine just what the line will look like in 2025.
Ravens Host Several Former Players For Scout School
Two things that we’ve witnessed in the last 30 years are the Ravens’ elite draft history between general managers Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta and the propensity for NFL players to return to the sport in coaching and scouting roles when their playing careers are over. Newsome himself was a Hall of Fame tight end before making a case to become a future Hall of Fame executive. Now, DeCosta and the Ravens are actively working to merge those aforementioned two things with the Legends Scout School. 
Ravens editorial director Ryan Mink provided details on the recent event about two weeks ago. The event was a two-hour, virtual crash course that the team’s director of legacy engagement, Matt Little, organized in tandem with the player personnel department. Named similarly to the Reese’s Senior Bowl’s Scout School, the Ravens’ version was developed as Little continuously saw more and more former Ravens express interest in getting into scouting.
The group of 21 players included former starting contributors like recently retired defenders Michael Pierce and Jimmy Smith, journeyman players whose time in Baltimore was brief like Antwan Barnes and Terrence West, and draft picks that never quite found their place on the roster like Prince Daniels and Aaron Mellette. The players ranged from Baltimore’s earliest days to its most recent season. Former NFL running back Earnest Byner was in attendance — his last two seasons of a 14-year career were Baltimore’s first two seasons as a franchise — as was Pierce, who retired shortly after catching his first career interception this past season.
The event started with a brief introduction from DeCosta, followed by an overview of the staff from director of player personnel Mark Azevedo, who then went over the role of a player personnel assistant. Then, director of college scouting Andrew Raphael provided a crash course on the college scouting process, followed by a similar breakdown of the pro scouting process by assistant director of pro personnel Corey Frazier. Vice president or football administration Nick Matteo closed the learning period by going over salary cap and contract management.
After all of that, Azevedo returned to go over the league’s Nunn-Wooten scouting fellowship program. The NFL created the program in 2015 to expose interested and qualified candidates to a career in professional scouting. One former player who expressed interest in applying for the fellowship was Marcus Smith. Smith, who had attended Mobile’s three-day event in 2024, claimed to have taken more away from Baltimore’s school in just two hours.
It’s certainly an interesting offseason project for the Ravens. While similar events, like the Senior Bowl’s, have been available before, this is the first known event like this designed by a team for its former players. It’s the latest advancement we’ve seen in the NFL’s efforts to improve the quality of life for players once their playing days are over, and it’s a welcomed sight.
Here’s a full list of players who attended the event with their Baltimore tenures:
- OLB Antwan Barnes (2007-2009)
- DT Levi Brown (2014)
- RB Earnest Byner (1996-1997)
- G Chris Chester (2006-2010)
- WR Terrance Copper (2008)
- RB Prince Daniels (2006-2008)
- OL Steve Edwards (2007)
- T Jared Gaither (2007-2010)
- TE Terry Jones (2002-2005)
- FB Jason McKie (2010)
- WR Aaron Mellette (2013)
- C Quentin Neujahr (1996-1997)
- DT Michael Pierce (2016-2019,2022-2024)
- C Matt Skura (2016-2020)
- CB Jimmy Smith (2011-2021)
- WR Marcus Smith (2008-2011)
- G Tre Stallings (2008-2009)
- WR Travis Taylor (2000-2004)
- RB Terrence West (2015-2017)
- LB Kenny Young (2018-2019)
- C Jeremy Zuttah (2014-2016,2017)
Browns Announce 8 Hires, 7 Promotions In Front Office
Yesterday, the Browns announced more than a handful of new hires and promotions in their operations, player personnel, and analytics departments. Operations had one new hire and one promotion, player personnel had four new hires and four promotions, and analytics had three new hires and two promotions.
The biggest ticket items were in the player personnel department, so we’ll start there. With Dan Saganey‘s departure and subsequent hiring in Tennessee, Adam Al-Khayyal steps into Saganey’s old role as director of player personnel. Al-Khayyal has been in Cleveland for the past 10 years, starting as an intern in 2015 before getting promotions to assistant director of pro personnel and director of pro scouting.
Matt Donahoe was elevated from southeast area scout to national scout. Having joined the Browns six years ago after time with the Chiefs, Donahoe enters his 12th season of NFL work. Filling in as a new area scout will be John Nussman, though he will cover the midwest region. This is the second straight year of promotions for Nussman, who was named NFS scout for the team last year after four seasons as a scouting assistant. Stepping into the newly vacant NFS scout role will be Tyler Habursky, who was hired last year as a scouting assistant.
The big new hire in the player personnel department is Shaun Herock, who comes in as the team’s new senior college personnel advisor. Herock started in the NFL as a scouting intern for the Falcons in in the ’90s. In 1994, Green Bay hired him after a short internship with them, and he eventually rose through the ranks to become assistant director of college scouting, serving in the role for 11 seasons. He left to serve as director of college scouting for the Raiders, serving as interim general manager in his last season with the team following the dismissal of Reggie McKenzie. When he, too, was let go at the end of the 2018 season, he joined the Browns as a scout and, eventually, was promoted to national scout. He returned to the Raiders as a personnel advisor in 2022, but he departs from the Raiders for Cleveland once more after three years away.
The other three new hires in the player personnel department are all new scouting assistants. Josh Meyer, Andrew Nimo-Sefah, and Ryan Smith were all hired to serve in that role. Meyer joins the team after working as a player personnel & recruiting analyst at his alma mater, Michigan, a role he earned after working as a recruiting intern as a student. Nimo-Sefah interned for the Cardinals in various roles as a student before working for the NFL GSISS support team and as a stats analyst for ESPN after that. Smith has experience with the team as an external film analyst in the team’s past two drafts, but he’ll now be paid directly by the team in his new position.
In operations, the new hire is the big-ticket item as James Cook joins the team as senior director of player development. Cook began his career in the NFL’s London office, working in several international projects like the International Player Pathway Program, flag football, the NFL Academy, and NFL Africa. Most recently, Cook served as head of player development for the league’s newest Academy based in Asia-Pacific. The promotion in operations looks a bit more like a lateral move. Hajriz Aliu, who has served the team as a scouting assistant for the past three seasons, is changing departments and will serve now as a football operations assistant in 2025.
In analytics, the two promotions see Abby Protin named senior software developer of football information systems and Jacqueline Roberts named coordinator of coaching logistics. Protin joined the team in 2022 as a software developer after time as a data analyst for the University of Maryland baseball team. Roberts joined the Browns last year as an intern within team logistics. She came in with experience in coaching operations from her work at the Senior Bowl.
Protin’s group adds two new junior software developers in Evan Stanislaw and John Michael Tran. Stanislaw has some work experience in sports from his time working for the NHL’s Dallas Stars, while Tran comes to Cleveland after internships at NASA and Amazon. Lastly, Ethan Weissman has been hired to the group as a football research analyst. This comes after the Harvard graduate served the past two years as a research & strategy intern for the team.
Bengals Could Leave Cincinnati?
Despite being around since 1968, the Bengals are the seventh-youngest franchise in the NFL. Since their inception, though, the league has seen the Raiders, Colts, Cardinals, Rams, Oilers, and Chargers all change their locations; the Rams moved twice and the Raiders moved three times over that span. Now, there’s a chance the Bengals could dissociate from the city of Cincinnati, though that chance may be fairly small. 
Yesterday, The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. detailed the situation between the Bengals and Hamilton County. The two parties are currently negotiating the lease for Paycor Stadium, where the team has played since the 2000 season. This story has risen to the forefront of recent news due to an important upcoming decision deadline for the Bengals.
By June 30, the Bengals will have to agree to a lease offer from the County or exercise an option that extends the current lease for two years.
The current lease doesn’t expire until June 30 of next year, so the team is, of course, guaranteed to have a home for the 2025 NFL season, but the team is seeking to make changes to the stadium that would require an updated lease agreement. The Bengals are hoping to make upgrades to their home of the past 25 years, and renovations don’t run cheap these days. Recent years have seen two comparable renovations to downtown stadiums that didn’t require new construction: an $800MM renovation that tied the Panthers to Charlotte for 20 years, and a $489MM renovation that tied the Ravens to Baltimore through 2037.
In these deals, a good portion of the funding is provided by the states or local governments — the Charlotte City Council contributed $650MM, while the Ravens only contributed $55MM to the project, $35MM of which was made reimbursable by the Maryland Stadium Authority. The Bengals are teaming with the NFL to contribute $120MM through a G-5 loan — a loan that allows the Bengals to borrow NFL funds as long as the team matches the loan with their own funds. They want to contribute the money to a project that will allow them to renovate their two club lounges, their concessions, and all 132 of their suites.
Dehner posits that if the Bengals can’t agree to a deal with the County, the G-5 loan could be end up going to waste, and if things unfold in this fashion, the Bengals may decide to explore the concept of moving cities. Executive vice president Katie Blackburn, daughter of team president Mike Brown, didn’t rule out that option when discussing the matter in April, though she emphasized that the franchise would prefer to stay in Cincinnati with the ability to make the abovementioned renovations.
If a new lease agreement isn’t signed by next Tuesday, the team will exercise the two-year extension options that work on a rolling basis, extending the current lease, one the team is unhappy with, for two years over and over again until a new deal is signed or the agreement is terminated.
In order to terminate the lease to move to another location, though, the Bengals have to let the County know by December 31 of the second year of the extension (six months before each extension’s expiration date) that they intend to look elsewhere. During that six-month period, the Bengals must give the County, any individual in the County, or any group of individuals in the County the opportunity to purchase the team, as Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer discloses.
However unlikely it may be for the team to change cities (or ownerships), Brown’s father, former Browns and Bengals head coach, owner, and co-founder Paul Brown, located the franchise in Cincinnati because of its centrality to large neighboring cities like Louisville and Lexington in Kentucky and Columbus, Dayton, and Springfield in Ohio. The “Louisville Bengals” or “Columbus Bengals” may sound strange to the ear, but their close vicinity to the team’s current location (combined with existing bases of dedicated collegiate fans) could bode well for their chances of landing a disgruntled NFL franchise.
The County exchanged two offers with the Bengals in April, but both showed wide gaps between the two parties’ desires in terms of contribution percentage, length, and type. In the months since, the two sides have worked to bridge that gap, establishing a memorandum of understanding that tentatively puts some terms in place for the renovation project.
The last day that the commissioners of Hamilton County are meeting before the June 30 deadline is tomorrow morning. In Thursday’s session, the commissioners could initiate a vote on one more potential agreement to offer to the Bengals. From there, the Bengals will make the decision to sign the new lease offer or move forward with the first of potentially several two-year extensions. If it gets to that point, there will be a close watch on just whom the Bengals’ top brass is communicating with in the next two years.
NFL Minor Transactions: 6/25/25
Today’s only minor move:
Los Angeles Rams
- Waived: WR Quintez Cephus
Cephus’ return to the NFL will have to continue waiting. The former Lions receiver showed decent promise with noticeable improvement in Year 2 of his NFL career before a should injury ended his sophomore campaign after only five games. An attempted comeback season in 2022 resulted in another season-ending injury after only four games. An indefinite suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy kept him off the field in 2023, and though he signed deals with the Bills, Texans, and most recently the Rams, he failed to appear in games for any of the three in 2024. A return in 2025 will likely have to come in another city.
Release Candidate: Kendrick Bourne
It wasn’t too long ago that Kendrick Bourne was one of the top-performing receivers on the Patriots in his first season in New England for a rookie Pro Bowl quarterback in Mac Jones helping the team reach the playoffs for the first time since Tom Brady left. Things have gotten a bit darker in New England since those days, and there’s a chance things could get even darker for Bourne. 
Bourne arrived in New England coming off of an average first four years in San Francisco, though for an undrafted player, those four years were pretty impressive. He averaged about 44 catches for 442 yards and 3 touchdowns over that time. After losing veteran Julian Edelman to retirement and Damiere Byrd to free agency, the Patriots were looking to free agent signings like Bourne and Nelson Agholor to work with Jakobi Meyers and a struggling N’Keal Harry.
Coming off then-career highs in catches (49) and receiving yards (667), Bourne had a true breakout season in New England, setting new career highs in catches (55) and receiving yards (800) while matching his career high in touchdowns (5). Despite Aghlolor’s average annual salary ($13MM) more than doubling his ($5MM), Bourne proved to be a clear WR2 behind Meyers that year.
Unfortunately, as the production of Jones and the team’s other passers fell, Bourne’s did, too. It didn’t help that a veteran addition in DeVante Parker arrived and surpassed him and Agholor on the depth chart, demoting him to WR3. What’s worse, a promising contract year in 2023, one that saw him emerging as WR1 over Parker, a rookie Demario Douglas, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and others, came to a premature end when Bourne tore his ACL in Week 8.
The Patriots made a respectable move in the following offseason, re-signing Bourne to a new three-year deal with a slight raise despite the fact that he was going to be coming back from the season-ending injury. On his new deal, he missed the first four games of the season and took a couple of weeks to get going, but when he finally got back to the field, it had become clear that he had fallen behind youngsters Douglas and Kayshon Boutte on the depth chart.
In fact, the writing on the wall that Bourne might not have a place in New England anymore was so clear that a number of teams had discussions before the trade deadline of acquiring Bourne. The Patriots, though, held onto the veteran for the remainder of the season. Then, in the offseason, the team signed a huge free agent in veteran wideout Stefon Diggs and another veteran in Mack Hollins. Additionally, the Patriots drafted Kyle Williams in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
At this point, Bourne is sitting at WR5, maybe WR6. Diggs, Douglas, and Boutte are likely comfortably ahead of him on the depth chart, while Williams could easily be, as well, if he lives up to his draft stock. That leaves Bourne competing with Hollins for the honors of being the fifth or sixth receiver on the depth chart.
While that’s not disqualifying by itself, the fact that Bourne carries cap hits of $7.7MM and $7.9MM over the next two years makes it a lot harder to keep him on the roster if he’s not going to be contributing as a starter. Luckily for New England, Bourne’s second contract with the team included a potential out after the 2024 season. With this escape hatch, the Patriots can release Bourne with only $2.8MM of dead cap split evenly over the next two years, while giving the team $12.8MM of cap savings over that time.
It’s a little late to try and trade him at this point in time, and there’s always a chance that Bourne proves himself by moving up the depth chart. In reality, though, the amount of new competition for snaps coupled with the significant cap impact he holds over the rest of his contract puts Bourne in an unenviable position. He many need to have the camp of his life in order to keep from being a cap casualty in the next few months.
Ravens CB Jaire Alexander Considered Dolphins, Falcons
The Ravens recently made a big splash in free agency, signing All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander to a one-year, $4MM contract. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Alexander wasn’t totally sold on the idea of going to Baltimore at first, but his in-person visit sold him on the Ravens. 
Fowler notes that Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta was in on Alexander since March, when trade rumors began to circulate about the two-time Pro Bowler. So, when Alexander was finally released, Baltimore jumped at the opportunity to bring him in. Alexander was reportedly a bit noncommittal about any sort of deal, but he told the team he was willing to visit.
Alexander was testing free agency for the first time in his seven-year career. You never want to take the first offer given to you, so it makes sense to build a competitive market. The Bills had been active in trade conversations for Alexander early and were one of the first teams expressing interest, and though early reports showed that the Dolphins and Rams were not showing interest in Alexander, amidst the trade conversations with Jalen Ramsey, Fowler told us yesterday that Miami was another team Alexander was considering. The other team he was considering before signing with the Ravens was the Falcons.
The Dolphins always made a lot of sense as a destination for Alexander, so it was strange when the aforementioned report denied interest. Assuming Ramsey indeed departs from Miami, the team will have a significant hole to file. The team opted to cut starter Kendall Fuller for cap purposes, and up to this point, they have not re-signed him to a more team friendly deal, though he remains a free agent.
Kader Kohou is a good nickelback, but Miami has two gaping holes on the boundaries that are currently being filled by Storm Duck, an undrafted rookie last year who started three games, Cam Smith, a second-round corner who played almost exclusively on special teams in Year 1, spent all but six weeks of Year 2 injured, and has no starts in his career, and perhaps even Jason Marshall, a fifth-round rookie out of Florida.
In Atlanta, the need isn’t quite as big for Alexander. They return a relatively strong corps of AJ Terrell, Mike Hughes, and a strong CB3 in Clark Phillips III on the boundary and Dee Alford in the slot. While the team could probably improve on the nickelback position, that’s never been a spot Alexander has frequented.
Instead, Alexander arrived in Baltimore, and according to Fowler, immediate chemistry with everyone in the organization, including his former teammate at Louisville, Lamar Jackson, sold Alexander on signing with the Ravens.
He helps complete a solid-looking secondary that was perhaps looking a bit weaker after the Ar’Darius Washington injury. Instead of T.J. Tampa and Chidobe Awuzie battling it out for the starting spot across from Nate Wiggins, Alexander can slide in there, leaving Tampa and Awuzie as capable backups. In the meantime, Marlon Humphrey can settle into the slot, where he’s been playing more and more in recent years, while All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton and first-round rookie Malaki Starks patrol behind them.