Should Baltimore Ravens sign Tarell Brown?

Although the Baltimore Ravens wisely signed former New England Patriots nickel corner Kyle Arrington to man the slot in between newly extended shutdown CB Jimmy Smith and bounce-back hopeful Lardarius Webb, they could still use some more depth at the cornerback position. We all saw how Smith’s injury impacted the Ravens secondary and defense as a whole last year, as they finished the 2014 season with more passing yards allowed than yards thrown and double the amount of touchdowns allowed as interceptions (22 to 11).

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If Webb can bounce back and all of the key members of the secondary can stay healthy, then the Ravens pass defense should be quite strong. It’s always nice to hedge your bets, though, and it looks like the Ravens could do that by signing a veteran cornerback behind Smith and Webb.

Per sources close to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, the Ravens have interest in former Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers starting cornerback Tarell Brown, who was once a legit No. 1 corner while with the 49ers organization. Although “no deal is imminent”, the interest expressed by the Ravens is interesting nonetheless, because Brown is probably the best CB still left on the open market.

Just one other team has showed significant interest in Brown, and that team is the New England Patriots, who are even more CB-needy than the Ravens, especially after cutting ties with Arrington and Alfonzo Dennard (both were once starters on the Patriots defense). Brown actually worked out with the Pats, so we’ll have to see if the 30-year-old Texas product earns a visit with the Ravens organization.

While Brown didn’t have the best 2014 season and has missed five games over the past two seasons with injuries, he could still be an above-average starter. It’s very possible that last season’s struggles can be put on the situation he found himself in, since playing in the Raiders secondary was far from ideal last season, especially without a real coverage safety behind the cornerbacks. In Baltimore, Brown would get to play with Will Hill– one of the best coverage safeties in the game- when he does see the field, so that could prove to be a nice boost.

After three straight seasons with over ten passes defended and strong work in coverage to close out his career in San Francisco, Brown had just four passes defended with 12.4 yards per reception allowed. Quarterbacks had a 91.7 QB Rating when throwing it at him last year, but he might have been the team’s second-best corner behind impressive seventh-round rookie T.J. Carrie anyway.

Oct 26, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Oakland Raiders cornerback Tarell Brown (23) against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Browns won 23-13. Mandatory Credit: Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports

As Wilson stated in his piece, Brown clearly isn’t a must-sign player for the Baltimore Ravens, especially since there’s reason to believe that Webb can bounce back after being one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks back in the 2013 season.

In addition to signing Arrington, the Ravens also added former Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts CB Cassius Vaughn, 27, as veteran depth in free agency.

That said, Brown is a significantly better cover man than Vaughn, so he’d be a much safer injury replacement for either Smith or Webb.

He doesn’t exactly need injuries in order to find a role on the Ravens secondary either, because he’s good enough to earn a sizeable chunk of snaps if signed.

As always, it’s going to come down to the money, and, at 30, Brown isn’t going to make much of it despite being something of a “name” player at a valuable position.

There’s a reason why he hasn’t been signed to this point despite evidently significant interest from the Patriots, and that’s potentially because he’s looking for more money than teams are willing to give.

If the Ravens feel the price is right, then he would be a strong signing. Comparing him to the Ravens two CB signings this offseason, he’s a different player from Arrington, and, well, he’s a better player than Vaughn.

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