{"id":142003,"date":"2023-06-05T11:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T15:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=142003"},"modified":"2023-06-04T08:09:21","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T12:09:21","slug":"ravens-star-safety-marcus-williams-looks-confident-and-aggressive-at-otas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/06\/05\/ravens-star-safety-marcus-williams-looks-confident-and-aggressive-at-otas\/","title":{"rendered":"Ravens Star Safety Looks &#8220;Confident And Aggressive&#8221; At OTAs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Baltimore Ravens safety, Marcus Williams, is looking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoreravens.com\/news\/marcus-williams-pro-bowl-2023-50-words\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cconfident and aggressive\u201d<\/a> during OTAs. According to Clifton Brown, a Ravens staff writer, Williams has stood out this off-season. He also added that Williams was \u201cflying all over the secondary\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarcusWilliams?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MarcusWilliams<\/a> looking confident and aggressive, flying all over the secondary during OTAs.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rJlcHOXvX8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/rJlcHOXvX8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ravens\/status\/1665127573788188672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 3, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Marcus Williams Impressing at OTAs<\/h2>\n<h3>What Does 2023 Have In Store For Marcus Williams?<\/h3>\n<p>Williams is entering his second year in Mike MacDonald\u2019s defense after signing as a big-ticket free agent. The 26-year-old was one of Baltimore\u2019s best defensive playmakers at the start of last season, making key interceptions and leading the safety room.<\/p>\n<p>However, a wrist injury sent the star safety to the IR. After returning, Williams continued to play well but could not recapture his playmaking form in the early portion of 2022.<\/p>\n<p>This off-season, the Ravens defense has garnered a lot of attention. Their trade for Roquan Smith elevated their defense to elite levels last year. The hope is that MacDonald\u2019s defense continues that trajectory as a top unit in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Should Baltimore have one of the league\u2019s best defenses, Williams would have played a big part in that. As such, Brown notes that 2023 could be the first year Williams is named to the Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, Williams made 61 tackles, two for-loss, four interceptions, eight pass defenses and one fumble recovery. In the first four weeks of the season, before his wrist injury, Williams had 24 tackles, one for-loss, three picks and five pass defenses.<\/p>\n<p>Had he maintained that momentum through the whole season, he would have finished the year with 102 tackles, four tackles-for-loss, 13 interceptions and 21 pass defenses. Those numbers are completely unrealistic, but the extrapolation is testament to how well Williams started the year (even without a fully healthy secondary and Smith).<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, it would be unrealistic to expect Williams to have 13 picks. That level of production is impossible to expect over a full season. It is also worth noting that the likes of Kyle Hamilton, Marlon Humphrey and Smith will all compete with Williams for big plays.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mitch Trubisky didn&#39;t think Marcus Williams had THAT much range.<\/p>\n<p>Also, there&#39;s a 0% chance Williams could have stopped short of the end zone. That touchback\/INT rule is silly. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EPVqCvCmAh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/EPVqCvCmAh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ryan Mink (@ryanmink) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ryanmink\/status\/1602695898487816195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 13, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>What About Baltimore\u2019s Other OTA Standouts?<\/h3>\n<p>Aside from Williams, Brown mentioned a few other standout performers at Baltimore\u2019s OTAs. Geno Stone was a name that came up. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/17\/what-does-the-baltimore-ravens-re-signing-geno-smith-mean\/\" target=\"_self\">recently re-signed safety<\/a> was an underrated contributor in 2022\u2019s defense amidst Williams\u2019 injury. He is expected to see important snaps as the team\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/05\/22\/baltimore-ravens-safeties-preview\/\" target=\"_self\">third safety<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n<p>Another position group that is \u201cflashing\u201d? The tight ends. While Mark Andrews will always impress, Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar have also showed growth from their rookie year.<\/p>\n<p>A name that some ravens fans may not have heard of is Malik Hamm. According to Brown, Hamm \u201ccould be an unheralded player to watch\u201d. Brown had this to say about Hamm\u2019s OTA performances:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cA Baltimore native, Hamm was Lafayette&#8217;s all-time career sacks leader and made his presence felt during Thursday&#8217;s practice. If he keeps stacking days, Hamm could earn himself a longer look.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Hamm was an UDFA (undrafted free agent) who was a priority signing by Eric DeCosta\u2019s front office. But he is not the only rookie that has impressed the coaching staff this off-season. While Zay Flowers has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/ravens\/news\/baltimore-ravens-zay-flowers-mark-andrews-greg-lewis-otas-offseason\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">surprised coaches<\/a> with his athleticism, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/05\/16\/trenton-simpson-ravens-impressing\/\" target=\"_self\">Trenton Simpson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/05\/09\/baltimore-ravens-udfa-keaton-mitchell-impressing-at-rookie-minicamp-early\/\" target=\"_self\">UDFA Keaton Mitchell<\/a> are also impressing.<\/p>\n<p>There is a good feeling around Baltimore right now. They were recently ranked as the eighth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nfl\/news\/ranking-nfls-10-most-complete-teams-reigning-super-bowl-participants-headline-list-cowboys-inside-top-5\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u2018most complete team\u2019<\/a> by Jared Dubin of CBS Sports and that confidence can be found on the practice field.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udc40<br \/>Marcus Williams<br \/>Rashod Bateman<br \/>Nelson Agholor <br \/>Zay Flowers<br \/>Morgan Moses<br \/>Patrick Queen<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/C0uOpDGDf1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/C0uOpDGDf1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sgellison\/status\/1660740652232069120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 22, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: Jessica Rapfogel-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ravens Star Safety Looks \u2018Confident And Aggressive\u2019 At OTAs: Marcus Williams has been impressing in his second off-season in Baltimore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4198,"featured_media":142004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2274,7638],"class_list":["post-142003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ravens","tag-marcus-williams","tag-ravens-featured"],"modified_by":"Curtis Leung","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}