The Jimmy Smith injury/suspension hurts but the Ravens were prepared

Jimmy Smith suffered a torn Achilles against the Detroit Lions in week 13 as he will go on injured reserve; he will also be serving his four game suspension due to PEDs and will not be appealing his suspension.

Before his season-ending injury and suspension, Jimmy Smith was potentially going to be in his 1st Pro Bowl appearance in a career year. According to Adam Schefter, Smith is going to serve his suspension the rest of the season while he is injured. Smith has dealt with a nagging Achilles injury ever since early October, but with rest during practice and rotation of cornerbacks, it had not impacted his play till he got injured.

PEDs could have been why his potential season-ending injury was delayed till now. Either way, here are some highlights from 2011-2017 with the Baltimore Ravens.

I think John Harbaugh should have rested him for at least one game during the stretch, but he was a key piece in the secondary.

Even if he did not get hurt, he would not have been able to come back till the playoffs after serving his 4-game suspension. Harbaugh did know about this in advance before Week 13, but not the details as Darren Waller and Kenneth Dixon ( currently on injured reserve) are currently facing PED suspensions.

Now rookie Marlon Humphery, Brandon Carr, Jaylen Hill, and Maurice Canady will likely play more snaps to try to replace him.

This is disappointing as he was becoming a leader in the Ravens loaded secondary and showed why he was drafted in the 1st round with the 27th pick by the Ravens in 2011.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jimmy Smith was rated as the 12th best cornerback rated at an 86.9 overall grade. He was rated a top 5 cornerback with an 89.6 rating from the first eight games, but due to his Achilles injury, it was setting him back in terms of snaps but still let him play after resting during practice since then.

Also according to Pro Football Focus, Smith also only allowed a 49.2 passer rating when thrown to (3rd) had a 23.1% contest catch rate (5th). He was a big part of the success of the Ravens secondary in 2017, and the Ravens will hope he performs like this next year despite the injury.

Playing cornerback at Colorado, Smith has not had a season like this as a top cornerback but has been derailed by injuries his whole career in the NFL.

Jimmy Smith ended with nine pass deflections and three interceptions (2 TDs: 1 pick six and one fumble recovery), according to Pro Football Reference. He has not played more than 12 games in five of the seven seasons he has played in the NFL with the Ravens and at age 29, this is worrisome for his future with the Ravens.

Smith tied his interception record with three for a season and has 11 total interceptions and 59 pass deflections in his seven years (86 game) career with the Ravens.

Retirement before then or restructuring his contract are both not out of the question after this season for the 6’2″ 201 lb. cornerback

Smith has a $15,675,000 cap hit in 2018 so he should be a Raven next year according to Spotrac. In 2019, he does a contract opt out so it could be his last season as he will be a free agent with his 4-year contract up in 2020 at age 32. Cornerbacks, most of the time, tail off and do not play as well in their 30s, so Jimmy Smith’s future is cloudy after 2018.

The Baltimore Ravens are promoting former 2nd round pick Stanley Jean-Baptiste (2014) from the practice squad to add depth to the secondary with the Jimmy Smith loss.

The cornerback from Nebraska ( 6’3″ 218 lb.) was added to the practice squad on October 3rd, 2017. Baptiste was drafted by the Saints and only played four games as a rookie and was released in 2015.

Since then, he has been on the Detroit Lions ( active roster), Seattle Seahawks ( practice squad), Kansas City Chiefs ( active roster), and Jacksonsonville Jaguars earlier this year ( both). He does have some height to add to the cornerback depth.

The strength of the Baltimore Ravens has been the depth at cornerback that still has them in decent condition to contend for an AFC wildcard spot in 2017 despite the losses.

I imagine that the Ravens will continue their cornerback rotation to be similar to what Jeff Zrebic lays out. Carr has been the number two cornerback with some ups and downs but does have three interceptions on the season.

Former 6th round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and 1st-year cornerback out of Virginia Maurice Canady was activated from injured reserve a few ago and has contributed as the nickel/ slot cornerback with Ladarius Webb.

Jaylen Hill has not be activated yet due to recovering from an injury but should be active in Week 14 against the ( 10-2) Pittsburgh Steelers.

Even though the Ravens lost former 4th round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and 1st-year cornerback out of Temple Tavon Young in practice in the spring and free agent veteran Brandon Boykin early before the season, the Ravens have held up at cornerback well and have the depth to still be effective in their formidable defense.

The main replacement for Smith is going to be rookie Marlon Humphery, the 1st round cornerback from Alabama that the Ravens selected in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Many questioned this pick, but after not being able to rely on Jimmy Smith’s health, it is understandable why they want a future starting cornerback that could eventually replace Smith. In 2016, the Ravens had no depth in the secondary, but the Ravens staff knew they had to fix that in 2017 by signing Brandon Carr (free agent) and Jaylen Hill (undrafted rookie) to add to much-improved secondary in 2017.

Adding a cornerback early in the 2017 NFL Draft was needed as well to prepare for the future. According to Pro Football Focus, Humphery has been one of the standouts among rookie cornerbacks this year as he was graded as the 5th best rookie cornerback at an 81.6 through 12 weeks in limited snaps.

Now Humphrey, who has two interceptions and eight pass deflections already this season according to Pro Football Reference, will most likely get the start next to Carr as the number one cornerback as he has been pretty good overall this season in limited action with one start to his name.

Above is the interception he had in Week 13 against the Detroit Lions to essentially end the game. He did struggle with Marvin Jones Jr. in Week 13 against the Detroit Lions when Jimmy Smith went out and let up some big plays to set up touchdowns that allow Matt Stafford to come back late in the game.

Humphrey did redeem himself with his second interception to seal the game, but I expect a better performance as next week is his second start against the prolific Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers (Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Juju Smith-Schuster).

While rookie mistakes could be made, I think the ceiling with Humphery is very high as he fits the mold of a physical Ravens cornerback with the moxie to show for it.

Another potential signing for more veteran depth in the secondary could be free agent Antonio Cromartie.

At age 33, the veteran cornerback Antonio Cromartie has let the Ravens know he is still interested in playing in the NFL and even though they promoted Baptiste from the practice squad, it might not be a bad signing for depth if the Ravens want to advance farther in the playoffs. He was cut by the Indianapolis Colts last year and has played with the San Diego Chargers, NY Jets, and Arizona Cardinals in his 11-year career.

Next: 2018 Senior Bowl: 10 players worth watching

He could come for cheap as the Ravens do not have much salary cap, but it might be signing to make before the season ends even though he has lost a step.

As of now, I would like to the secondary for a whole game without Jimmy Smith before making any drastic signings to add to the secondary.