On May 15, 2017, less than a month after being drafted, Marlon Humphrey set a goal.
Three years later, Humphrey checked off that box by being named to the NFL Network's Top 100 team, as voted by his peers.
Humphrey debuted at No. 86 and three other Ravens – defensive end Calais Campbell (No. 79), safety Earl Thomas (75) and left tackle Ronnie Stanley (74) – were also unveiled Sunday night. The Ravens have a total of seven players on the "Top 100" list, which will continue to be released over the next three nights.
Humphrey has been a strong player ever since entering the league, but he entered the NFL's elite cornerbacks club last season when he made more game-changing plays.
Humphrey's punchout and fumble recovery in overtime in Pittsburgh essentially won the game. He returned two fumbles for touchdowns in big-time games, one against the New England Patriots and another in Seattle.
That, combined with his lockdown coverage and physicality as a tackler and run defender, made Humphrey a first-team All-Pro this year, which seems like it probably deserved higher than No. 86 on the list. Still, given Humphrey's athleticism, mindset and age, he has the potential to climb higher on this list in the years to come.
Campbell's ranking at No. 79 makes the Ravens' trade for him this offseason look even better. At 33 years old, Campbell is still considered by his peers to be one of the best defensive linemen in the league.
However, Campbell did drop 25 spots from No. 54 on last year's list. That's probably because Campbell went from 10.5 sacks in 2018 to 6.5 last year.
He was still Pro Football Focus' fourth highest-rated defensive lineman in the league last year and the NFL's top run defender. Great run defense doesn't get as much glam, but the Ravens will gladly take it.
"Everybody loves getting the sacks, making the big plays. Those plays help win games so they're very, very important," Campbell said. "But I try to do a lot of things that go underappreciated – that you don't get stats for, that's not sexy. I take pride in doing the dirty work, making the guys around me better."
Thomas is back on the "Top 100" list after not being on it at all last year, when he was coming off a broken leg that cut his 2018 season short. In his first season with the Ravens, Thomas logged two interceptions and was a big reason why Baltimore didn't give up many big plays despite blitzing more than any team in the league.
It's the debut for Stanley, who has received overdue credit this offseason after turning in an All-Pro season in which he didn't allow a single sack while protecting the NFL MVP and helped pave the way for a record-breaking run game.
Stanley is entering his fifth season after being the sixth-overall pick in 2016, and could be on his way to becoming one of the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the league. Yet he barely cracked the top 75 players, perhaps because offensive linemen often don't get much love. He's another player that certainly could have been higher this year, and will undoubtedly continue to climb the rankings.
