The Baltimore Ravens landed one of the best players in the draft, selecting safety Malaki Starks with the 27th pick in the draft, and people haven’t been shy about what they expect from the defensive back. Landing with a loaded Ravens teams, Starks is expected to immediately contribute. Considering his talent and play-making ability, the defender could emerge as a star during his rookie season.
So far, Starks has delivered on expectations. Taking first-team reps at safety since he arrived in Baltimore, head coach John Harbaugh has raved about the rookie, praising him for not making any mistakes. With the Ravens recognizing they could have a special player on their hands, they have already started throwing unique challenges at him.
Starks is a safety, and is penciled in as the starter next to Kyle Hamilton, but Baltimore has been getting him reps at corner during training camp. Harbaugh recently spoke about this, making it clear the rookie is a safety, but explaining why it’s beneficial for him to be prepared as a corner as well.
He’s definitely going to be a safety, but we do present the defense in different ways, and also the idea is to help him learn the defense. [He is] a very, very smart player. John Harbaugh.
Ravens have been giving rookie safety Malaki Starks reps at corner
Baltimore isn’t really lacking at corner, with Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins, and Jaire Alexander at the position. However, it never hurts for defenders to be versatile, and understand the responsibilities of all the positions. As Harbaugh notes, that ability will allow the defense to line up a ton of ways and do a lot of different things, making it complicated for opposing offenses.
During Starks’ collegiate career, he was praised for his versatility and elite cover skills as a safety. The Ravens are clearly taking advantage of those skills, as they hope Starks elevates their defense to another level.
