At one point during Tuesday's practice, a grown Ravens fan couldn't restrain his excitement when he saw Kyle Hamilton walking onto the field.
"Kyle Hamilton, you're the man!" the fan screamed at the top of his lungs.
That opinion is shared by many. Becoming an All-Pro in just his second season in 2023 has made Hamilton one of the NFL's brightest young faces. In a recent ESPN survey of league executives, coaches, and scouts, Hamilton was ranked as the NFL’s No. 2 safety behind Antoine Winfield Jr. of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Hamilton is the youngest player on that list, and it's hard to put a ceiling on his potential. However, he's not letting the recognition go to his head. He feels there's another level he can reach as a player, and he's determined to follow up his great season with an even better campaign in 2024.
"I think there's a lot of stuff that you guys may not notice that my coaches may not notice that I can improve," Hamilton said. "I think there's a lot of plays that I left out there last year, it gives me something to work on.
"In addition to leading, being more vocal. I had a good year, it's time to build on that, not only with my play but being a leader."
Hamilton's versatility allows the Ravens to deploy him on all three levels of the defense as a deep safety, cover safety, nickel corner, or blitzing safety. His stats (81 tackles, 13 passed defended, four quarterback hits, three sacks, and a pick-six) were impressive but they only told part of the story.
By the end of the season, every opposing quarterback knew that to have success against Baltimore, they had to anticipate where Hamilton would line up and prevent him from creating havoc.
Even some of Hamilton's most athletic teammates marveled at the size of Hamilton's skillset and how it developed so quickly at the NFL level.
"Kyle, he's a man of his own," three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. "How he's able to go from safety to nickel, to play really wherever. I always tell people if it had to be, Kyle could play every position on the defense except nose guard because he just can't put on as much weight as Michael Pierce."
Hamilton’s intelligence, film study, and athleticism have allowed him to become a game-changer from the safety position. He has proven many scouts wrong who underestimated his impact when he fell to the Ravens at No. 14 in the 2022 draft. Even Hamilton wasn't expecting to have so much put on his plate so early in his career, but he loves it.
"At Notre Dame I did a little bit of everything, but coming into the league I really didn't expect to," Hamilton said. "I more expected to play both safety spots and that would be the extent of my flexibility. But it's been awesome. Monday's meetings, come in, whatever they need me to do, play deep, play half, play down in the box, cover. Whatever they need me to do, I'm here for it."
New Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr has indicated he plans to take advantage of Hamilton's versatility as much as last season, if not more. Orr thinks Hamilton has the potential to be a future Defensive Player of the Year. In Year 3, Hamilton has quickly become one of the game's most recognizable faces. Like everything else he does, Hamilton plans to handle the attention well.
"I think it's kind of funny to see, I guess for lack of a better word, the notoriety that I've gotten just from playing well. It kind of almost feels expected – like this was supposed to happen," Hamilton said. "In my household – my mom and my dad and everybody was like, 'Yes, you're supposed to get better [in] Year 2 and do well and get accolades.' That's just kind of what the norm was.
"Obviously, I'm super grateful for it [and] everything that has come with it. I've always said I want to be rich, I don't want to be famous, so I think I'm cool where I'm at on the level of fame – maybe it could get even lower. But it's super exciting to just have the opportunities as well and be a part of this."
