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Article Welcome to Baltimore Marlon Humphrey

SepticeyePoe

Hall of Famer
When Rogers was with thr Skins, he pretty much shut down his side of the field, but he was a good cover corner. He couldn't catch if his life depended on it until he ended up getting contacts when he went to the 49ers.

I watched Rogers from the stands since I was a season ticket holder. Btw, Rogers was selected in the top 10.
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I totally agree and don't understand why many Ravens fans don't see this. All you have to see is the difference in the defense with him or without him to see thr difference he makes. He literally takes MOST receivers out of thr game. Sure he has his issues with AJ Green, but most wideouts he shuts down, just go back and watch the Giants game.
Has he really struggled with Green? I don't know if I'm remembering correctly, but I feel like Green has always had his biggest games when Jimmy was hurt.
 

29BmoreBird22

Staff Member
Moderator
Writer
Sorry about that! Completely my fault. I meant to have posted it for you yesterday, but I called it a night early as I was really tired.

I moved the thread into the news category so that it is viewable on the front page. ^_^
Hey, no worries. I hope you all enjoyed.
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Has he really struggled with Green? I don't know if I'm remembering correctly, but I feel like Green has always had his biggest games when Jimmy was hurt.
I think Jimmy has faired well with Green individually, but you know Green is a Ravens killer.
 

RavensMania

Staff Member
Administrator
Has he really struggled with Green? I don't know if I'm remembering correctly, but I feel like Green has always had his biggest games when Jimmy was hurt.
I remember my first Ravens game, which was the 3rd game of 2015. Green killed him in the 4the qtr. maybe overall he has faired ok with Green, but that game stands out in particular.
 

SepticeyePoe

Hall of Famer
Hey, no worries. I hope you all enjoyed.
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I think Jimmy has faired well with Green individually, but you know Green is a Ravens killer.

I remember my first Ravens game, which was the 3rd game of 2015. Green killed him in the 4the qtr. maybe overall he has faired ok with Green, but that game stands out in particular.
Thanks. He's missed so many games, I can't remember which ones he played in and which ones he didn't.
 

29BmoreBird22

Staff Member
Moderator
Writer
I remember my first Ravens game, which was the 3rd game of 2015. Green killed him in the 4the qtr. maybe overall he has faired ok with Green, but that game stands out in particular.
Jimmy was fresh off the Lisfranc. If that's the only bad game he's had in memory, I'll take it.

Yeah, it was a rough game, though.
 

Dom McRaven

Hall of Famer
It's articles like this are why I'm excited to see the future of these forums. And ESPN wonders why they're losing ratings. VERY well done.
 

RavensMania

Staff Member
Administrator
Maybe we need to add a twitter and facebook share post to promote the site and the articles. It shouldn't take too much to add those to this site.
 

Grim

Ravens Ring of Honor
First of all, Jimmy Smith has done well against Green since college. Smith was one of the very few CBs that stopped Green way back when unless my memory serves me poorly. I recall very distinctly Smith being mentioned as a guy who shut down Green because that was the first draft where I was really into it.

Anyway, great write up and article. Humphrey is a pretty good CB prospect. I personally liked Jones better as a CB but I think the injury AND size issue scared us away from him. It's hard to invest in him when he could be an injury bug his entire career due to his weight. Humphrey is the athletic package that just needs the technical refinement to take his game to the next level. I'm arguably one of the biggest fans of Jon Allen AND OJ Howard here and lauded them both as elite talents last year when I thought they'd declare. I say this to say Humphrey shouldn't be so easily questioned just because others say Allen or Howard would've been bette picks.

I suspect all 3 were closely rated by the Ravens but injury concerns likely caused us to pass on Allen, while Howard was passed on due to our glut at the TE position. I'd trade all our TE for Howard but I can see why we wouldn't since that would still be weakening our CB corps and that's what cost us games and not our TE.

Humphrey has issues that can easily be corrected if he chooses to put in the work to get better. He doesn't come across as Matt Elam and that's a good sign. We should give him a chance at least and not hate on him yet. Not even Sherman or Peterson were true shutdown Stars day one.
 

29BmoreBird22

Staff Member
Moderator
Writer
First of all, Jimmy Smith has done well against Green since college. Smith was one of the very few CBs that stopped Green way back when unless my memory serves me poorly. I recall very distinctly Smith being mentioned as a guy who shut down Green because that was the first draft where I was really into it.
I remember reading that Georgia actually never let AJ Green go to Jimmy's side because they entirely wanted to avoid the match up since Jimmy only played the right side.
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I suspect all 3 were closely rated by the Ravens but injury concerns likely caused us to pass on Allen, while Howard was passed on due to our glut at the TE position. I'd trade all our TE for Howard but I can see why we wouldn't since that would still be weakening our CB corps and that's what cost us games and not our TE.
Apparently with Howard there's a lot of questions surrounding whether or not he actually loves the game enough to get better.

Right now, he's got the potential to be a huge weapon, but if he's ever going to be an elite talent, he has to have the desire and effort to put into becoming an elite talent. Scouts just aren't sure he'll ever become that.

Also, anyone else find it odd that Lane Kiffen likes to scheme open his weapons and really force feed the ball, but someone with the play making threat of Howard was never a focal point at Alabama? He never really amounted to what he should have given Kiffen's tendencies to abuse his players play making ability. Plus, he saw his playing time go significantly down from 2015 to 2016. Could that be due to a lack of desire to play the game?

Let's be honest, though- if OJ Howard truly were the best player available, then Gilmore, Watson, Pitta, and Boyle weren't stopping him from being a Raven. I truly believe he was ranked lower than Humphrey.
 

Sledge Hammer

Pro Bowler
I remember reading that Georgia actually never let AJ Green go to Jimmy's side because they entirely wanted to avoid the match up since Jimmy only played the right side.
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Apparently with Howard there's a lot of questions surrounding whether or not he actually loves the game enough to get better.

Right now, he's got the potential to be a huge weapon, but if he's ever going to be an elite talent, he has to have the desire and effort to put into becoming an elite talent. Scouts just aren't sure he'll ever become that.

Also, anyone else find it odd that Lane Kiffen likes to scheme open his weapons and really force feed the ball, but someone with the play making threat of Howard was never a focal point at Alabama? He never really amounted to what he should have given Kiffen's tendencies to abuse his players play making ability. Plus, he saw his playing time go significantly down from 2015 to 2016. Could that be due to a lack of desire to play the game?

Let's be honest, though- if OJ Howard truly were the best player available, then Gilmore, Watson, Pitta, and Boyle weren't stopping him from being a Raven. I truly believe he was ranked. lower than Humphrey.

If ravens ranked Hump over Howard and Allen then time will tell if it was the correct call. If he is average and cornerbacks drafted after him become studs then it is a bad pick. Especially if Howard becomes a stud.
[doublepost=1495347712][/doublepost]While it would be cool for Humph to become a borderline allpro cornerback. In my opinion his shortcomings are of the variety cornerbacks very rarely get better. Finding the football and running while looking elsewhere is a gift not learned. It would be like drafting a hard hitting box safety and thinking he will learn to be a hall hawking int machine. I do think he will get better at it but will never be in Shermans league. And he does have some bust potential.

If he can improve all around he can be an effective cover2 and some man to man cornerback. Pff likes him at safety. He would make for a rare prototype safety. Not many strong safety's can drop in the box and cover a #1 WR to mix things up. It would be like Chsncellor dropping in the box to pick up Marqise Lee. You won't see that cuz he would get roasted. Whereas Humph could cover WRs like a cornerback but from the safety position. While doing something funky with cornerback.
 

29BmoreBird22

Staff Member
Moderator
Writer
If ravens ranked Hump over Howard and Allen then time will tell if it was the correct call. If he is average and cornerbacks drafted after him become studs then it is a bad pick. Especially if Howard becomes a stud.
[doublepost=1495347712][/doublepost]While it would be cool for Humph to become a borderline allpro cornerback. In my opinion his shortcomings are of the variety cornerbacks very rarely get better. Finding the football and running while looking elsewhere is a gift not learned. It would be like drafting a hard hitting box safety and thinking he will learn to be a hall hawking int machine. I do think he will get better at it but will never be in Shermans league. And he does have some bust potential.

If he can improve all around he can be an effective cover2 and some man to man cornerback. Pff likes him at safety. He would make for a rare prototype safety. Not many strong safety's can drop in the box and cover a #1 WR to mix things up. It would be like Chsncellor dropping in the box to pick up Marqise Lee. You won't see that cuz he would get roasted. Whereas Humph could cover WRs like a cornerback but from the safety position. While doing something funky with cornerback.
Except he doesn't have issues with ball tracking. He sees and gets ball very well. He just doesn't put himself into a position to turn and locate the ball consistently. That is why you won't be right no matter how many times you repeat the exact same thing over and over.

Plus, if he can cover a receiver, you don't convert him to safety. You leave him at corner.
 

Sledge Hammer

Pro Bowler
Except he doesn't have issues with ball tracking. He sees and gets ball very well. He just doesn't put himself into a position to turn and locate the ball consistently. That is why you won't be right no matter how many times you repeat the exact same thing over and over.

Plus, if he can cover a receiver, you don't convert him to safety. You leave him at corner.

Funny you should say that. You can't wish ball skills into him. If tracking/adjusting to the football was a technique thing more players would get far better at it. Well we will have to bookmark this thread and wait several months and see when he plays won't we.

As for not converting him to safety cuz he can cover a receiver. tell that to SF. Lott was a top5 cornerback in the NFL. Converted to safety and became a phenom and one of best defensive players ever. Not saying we should do it. Only saying a big hard hitting great tackling cover 2 cornerback with some man up cover skills would be a very unique strong safety. Somebody that can jam and cover TE's. Handle a zone like a cornerback and even come into the box to shadow a top WR.
 
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29BmoreBird22

Staff Member
Moderator
Writer
Funny you should say that. You can't wish ball skills into him. If tracking/adjusting to the football was a technique thing more players would get far better at it. Well we will have to bookmark this thread and wait several months and see when he plays won't we.

As for not converting him to safety cuz he can cover a receiver. tell that to SF. Lott was a top5 cornerback in the NFL. Converted to safety and became a phenom and one of best defensive players ever. Not saying we should do it. Only saying a big hard hitting great tackling cover 2 cornerback with some man up cover skills would be a very unique strong safety. Somebody that can jam and cover TE's. Handle a zone like a cornerback and even come into the box to shadow a top WR.
Yeah, except it isn't about tracking/adjusting. That must have gone entirely over your head. I truly feel like you read the PFF scouting report and the NFL.com anonymous draft profile thing and just went, "Well, this issue will never be fixed." Pretty sure you even admitted several times to not watching him very much.

We're talking about one of the most rare talents in the NFL in a different time period. Also, a couple of things to point out. 1. Lott was at his best at FS 2. Lott has some of the most incredible range and hitting ability to ever grace the football field. I think his coverage skills at safety are truly only rivaled by that of Ed Reed 3. We're talking about a team that needed a safety after Hicks left. The Ravens have zero need for a strong safety.
[doublepost=1495382088,1495379928][/doublepost]The issue right now that stands out the most that puts him in a poor position to make plays on the ball (other than the sloppy footwork at the LoS) is the fact that he plays the man first, not the ball.

At 20 years old, that's a coachable habit to fix. Plenty (if not most) of college corners will play the man before the ball. That's just how they do it because many are athletes first and football players second as they learn the position. Humphrey isn't much of an exception to this right now. However, again, very fixable issue that plagues most corners coming out of college.

I also have to put a little * by the 19.0 YPC statistic that he gave up because it's not like Humphrey was giving up several catches a game or like he was getting targeted a lot. He got targeted about four times a game and gave up around two catches a game. In many games, it'd be like 1 catch for 45 yards. Yeah, you wish he didn't give up that one catch, but when he's not getting thrown at for the rest of the game, you can live with it a little more.
 

Sledge Hammer

Pro Bowler
if getting to the football was a technique issue more players would get far better at it.Well we will have to wait and see when he plays won't we
Yeah, except it isn't about tracking/adjusting. That must have gone entirely over your head. I truly feel like you read the PFF scouting report and the NFL.com anonymous draft profile thing and just went, "Well, this issue will never be fixed." Pretty sure you even admitted several times to not watching him very much.

We're talking about one of the most rare talents in the NFL in a different time period. Also, a couple of things to point out. 1. Lott was at his best at FS 2. Lott has some of the most incredible range and hitting ability to ever grace the football field. I think his coverage skills at safety are truly only rivaled by that of Ed Reed 3. We're talking about a team that needed a safety after Hicks left. The Ravens have zero need for a strong safety.
[doublepost=1495382088,1495379928][/doublepost]The issue right now that stands out the most that puts him in a poor position to make plays on the ball (other than the sloppy footwork at the LoS) is the fact that he plays the man first, not the ball.

At 20 years old, that's a coachable habit to fix. Plenty (if not most) of college corners will play the man before the ball. That's just how they do it because many are athletes first and football players second as they learn the position. Humphrey isn't much of an exception to this right now. However, again, very fixable issue that plagues most corners coming out of college.

I also have to put a little * by the 19.0 YPC statistic that he gave up because it's not like Humphrey was giving up several catches a game or like he was getting targeted a lot. He got targeted about four times a game and gave up around two catches a game. In many games, it'd be like 1 catch for 45 yards. Yeah, you wish he didn't give up that one catch, but when he's not getting thrown at for the rest of the game, you can live with it a little more.


So your saying he is going to be as good as Richard Sherman's. Because it seems you are trying to talk yourself into him being a shutdown corner. You are telling yourself that his problems are easily fixed technique issues. Like all he has to do is open his hips at proper time. You can site technique issues with every bust ever. Somebody thought Taylor mays could be fixed with coaching on technique. I mean the dudes interceptions look like accidents. How often was he beaten and bailed out by the front 7. If we did take Howard would you be here looking for avenues saying Humph shoulda been the ravens pick? You are hoping he will be a shutdown cornerback and presenting his skill set so it appears he is next Sherman. I really applaud you for going out on a limb and I hope you are correct. Believe me I do. However late fall you are going to one of look really good, acknowledge you were wrong, making excuses for his play, defer his play grade until next year.

I'm sure you watched more of him than I. His projection is my opinion. I think bigger stronger amukamara. And yes pff espn NFL cbs Walter bring up safety but it isn't the only reason I like him better for safety. It is ideal for him to be Namdi assoughnwa , Woodson but he has far to go to get there. If I'm wrong I have no problem writing 10 times good job bird I was wrong about Humph.
 

29BmoreBird22

Staff Member
Moderator
Writer
So your saying he is going to be as good as Richard Sherman's. Because it seems you are trying to talk yourself into him being a shutdown corner. You are telling yourself that his problems are easily fixed technique issues. Like all he has to do is open his hips at proper time. You can site technique issues with every bust ever. Somebody thought Taylor mays could be fixed with coaching on technique. I mean the dudes interceptions look like accidents. How often was he beaten and bailed out by the front 7. If we did take Howard would you be here looking for avenues saying Humph shoulda been the ravens pick? You are hoping he will be a shutdown cornerback and presenting his skill set so it appears he is next Sherman. I really applaud you for going out on a limb and I hope you are correct. Believe me I do. However late fall you are going to one of look really good, acknowledge you were wrong, making excuses for his play, defer his play grade until next year.

I'm sure you watched more of him than I. His projection is my opinion. I think bigger stronger amukamara. And yes pff espn NFL cbs Walter bring up safety but it isn't the only reason I like him better for safety. It is ideal for him to be Namdi assoughnwa , Woodson but he has far to go to get there. If I'm wrong I have no problem writing 10 times good job bird I was wrong about Humph.
I give every corner three years. That's only fair.

And considering I had Humphrey as the pick for the Ravens in early February (I was the first and one of the few to peg him to the Ravens), I would have said he should have been the pick over OJ Howard. Would I have been upset with Howard? Not in the slightest bit.

I would not liken him to Nnamdi in the slightest bit and I think that's a very naive post to make. Nnamdi benefited from 1. Weak corner play across from him. 2. Playing solely right CB. 3. Being strictly a press man corner. Nnamdi was majorly exposed in Philli when he showed his lack of scheme versatility and the inability to actually move around the field.

As for his interceptions, every corner has flukey interceptions, but Humphrey makes his own plenty. Go ahead and watch the interception against T A&M that I linked. That's textbook zone coverage and instincts. That wasn't even close to being his man in that play.

I wouldn't liken him to Woodson, either. Woodson was a force in the slot and an extremely abled blitz option. Humphrey is really only an outside option.

I have a lot of faith that Humphrey can fix these issues because Alabama is extremely piss poor at coaching DB's to 1. Play the ball. 2. Backpedal (Humphrey is too loose in his motions and has poor balance out of his backpedal. I think being more compact will take away some of the issues of opening his hips too early in off man.) For as great of a coach as Saban is defensively, he can't coach a pro ready DB to save his life. He truly lucked into Mincah Fitzpatrick and his ability to actually play the ball.

Also, never said he would be Richard Sherman. I think that's a good possibility because of his ability to play the ball from zone. I think a fair hope is that he develops into Josh Norman in Carolina. Given Pees desire to play Cover 2 and how well Humphrey fits, I think that's a fair best case scenario.
 

Sledge Hammer

Pro Bowler
I give every corner three years. That's only fair.

And considering I had Humphrey as the pick for the Ravens in early February (I was the first and one of the few to peg him to the Ravens), I would have said he should have been the pick over OJ Howard. Would I have been upset with Howard? Not in the slightest bit.

I would not liken him to Nnamdi in the slightest bit and I think that's a very naive post to make. Nnamdi benefited from 1. Weak corner play across from him. 2. Playing solely right CB. 3. Being strictly a press man corner. Nnamdi was majorly exposed in Philli when he showed his lack of scheme versatility and the inability to actually move around the field.

As for his interceptions, every corner has flukey interceptions, but Humphrey makes his own plenty. Go ahead and watch the interception against T A&M that I linked. That's textbook zone coverage and instincts. That wasn't even close to being his man in that play.

I wouldn't liken him to Woodson, either. Woodson was a force in the slot and an extremely abled blitz option. Humphrey is really only an outside option.

I have a lot of faith that Humphrey can fix these issues because Alabama is extremely piss poor at coaching DB's to 1. Play the ball. 2. Backpedal (Humphrey is too loose in his motions and has poor balance out of his backpedal. I think being more compact will take away some of the issues of opening his hips too early in off man.) For as great of a coach as Saban is defensively, he can't coach a pro ready DB to save his life. He truly lucked into Mincah Fitzpatrick and his ability to actually play the ball.

Also, never said he would be Richard Sherman. I think that's a good possibility because of his ability to play the ball from zone. I think a fair hope is that he develops into Josh Norman in Carolina. Given Pees desire to play Cover 2 and how well Humphrey fits, I think that's a fair best case scenario.

Glad you have faith in him fixing these issues. There is a reason he will not fix them all It isn't TECHNIQUE like you think it is. It is something built In that never gets talked about. It is very nieve to think these skills are going Conjure up by opening his hips at the right time or whatever. Talked about it at gyms many times with former college cornerbacks WRs and safety's that didn't make the NFL.
 

29BmoreBird22

Staff Member
Moderator
Writer
Glad you have faith in him fixing these issues. There is a reason he will not fix them all It isn't TECHNIQUE like you think it is. It is something built In that never gets talked about. It is very nieve to think these skills are going Conjure up by opening his hips at the right time or whatever. Talked about it at gyms many times with former college cornerbacks WRs and safety's that didn't make the NFL.
You have admitted to not having watched him, but you know it's not technique.

Let's put 2 and 2 together and see the issue here.
 

Sami84

Ravens Ring of Honor
Sledgehammer,

I predict it will take 6-7 games into the season and humphrey will have got a feel for his improved techinique

I say he could easily be a Prince Amukamara. Similar athletic skillset and build.
 
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