During his first four seasons, the Ravens deployed Kyle Hamilton wherever they needed help. He was “The Fixer.”
New Head Coach Jesse Minter has the task of turning around a Ravens defense that slid in the rankings the past two seasons, and he knows how he uses Hamilton will be a big piece of the puzzle.
"Kyle is a weapon," Minter said at his introductory press conference Thursday. "He is a positionless defensive player that I would classify as a weapon on defense."
Hamilton has mostly bounced between playing slot cornerback, linebacker, and free/strong safety during his first four seasons with the Ravens. He began last season playing predominantly free safety before moving closer to the line of scrimmage in Week 6.
Going forward, Minter mostly plans on using Hamilton closer to the action.
"As much as you can do to get a guy like Kyle near the point of attack, I think, is what you try to do as a designer [or] play-caller," Minter said.
Minter said he's already had a couple "really good" conversations with Hamilton. The Ravens had a small group of veteran players involved and giving feedback during the hiring process, and it wouldn't be a surprise if Hamilton was among them.
"I could not be more thrilled to be able to work with Kyle," Minter said. "I know he's excited, and I'm excited to work with him alongside all the really great players that we have in this organization."
Cornerback Marlon Humphrey and defensive end Brent Urban are the only Ravens defenders still on the roster from Minter's days as a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach in Baltimore (2017-2020). Mostly, Minter will have a defensive roster full of new pieces for him to maximize.
He said he's "stoked" about the Ravens' personnel, which he sees as being full of All-Pros and Defensive Player of the Year-type weapons. Now it's about getting the most from all that talent and returning the Ravens back to the top of the NFL.
The Lounge #876: Takeaways From Jesse Minter's Introductory Press Conference
Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing discuss the arrival of new Ravens Head Coach Jesse Minter, including the principles he showed, the process that led to this position, his expectations for the team, and much more.
In 2020, the last season Minter was in Baltimore, the Ravens ranked No. 2 in the league in points allowed and the secondary he led gave up the sixth-fewest passing yards. Minter said his objective is to "build the best defense in the National Football League."
"It takes standards. It takes standards of how we practice, how we operate, how we learn, how we play together, how we can for each other," Minter said.
"So many things go into playing great defense. There's schematics, which we'll have a lot of, we'll have answers and all that. But it's about us building a foundation of fundamentals and techniques that will allow us to be at our best on Sundays."
