Baltimore Ravens: Marcus Peters trade creates dangerous secondary

The Baltimore Ravens landed cornerback Marcus Peters in a trade with the Rams, sending Kenny Young and a draft pick back to Los Angeles. Grading the trade.

As exciting as Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens have been in 2019, the defense has been troublesome. They’re now trying to address that after a 4-2 start to the season. On Tuesday ahead of Week 7 and a matchup with Seattle, the Ravens have traded for former All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters.

Reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the trade sends Peters to Baltimore while the Ravens will send linebacker Kenny Young and an “undisclosed draft pick” to the Los Angeles Rams. It’s a move that makes a big splash but that certainly addresses a need for the Ravens.

Baltimore entered this year thinking that their secondary would be the strength of a defense that lost edge rusher Za’Darius Smith and middle linebacker C.J. Mosley in free agency. However, an injury to Jimmy Smith, among other ailments, have left the Ravens severely lacking, especially with a largely ineffective pass rush up front.

But was trading for Marcus Peters the right move? Let’s hand out a grade and assess how the Ravens fared in this deal.

One thing that people might be thinking initially after this trade is that Peters is part of a Rams defense that has been bad this season, worse than what the Ravens have done. And while that may be true, that’s no fault of the cornerback.

Peters has looked like one of the elite players at the position this season. Per PFF on Twitter, Peters has graded out as a top-15 player at the position in coverage this season in addition to notching two interceptions, including a pick-six, on the year. Furthermore, Peters has been so sticky in coverage that teams have hardly been able to attack him.

Also according to PFF on Twitter, Peters leads in the NFL in cover snaps per target, a metric that measures the number of times a defensive player’s matchup (or zone) is targeted when he’s in coverage:

For the way that the Ravens have approached their defensive construction this season, Marcus Peters is a vital piece to the equation. Because they have a pass rush that leaves a lot to be desired, that puts a lot of responsibility on the cornerbacks. And as good as Marlon Humphrey is, he can only do so much with Smith out and Brandon Carr struggling.

Now, Baltimore gets to pair Humphrey with Peters for as long as Smith is out, giving the defense two elite players in coverage to help them execute in the manner they need to on that side of the ball.

Even better for the Ravens, they get a player of Peters’ caliber at a relatively cheap price. Kenny Young was a fourth-rounder from 2018 that has been average for the defense thus far. And though we don’t know the specifics of the draft pick, it’s likely a mid-round selection, making the deal all the more favorable for Baltimore.

The Ravens have the goods to make a playoff run in the 2019 season but needed to make the right adjustments and move to shore up the defense. Trading for Peters is the exact move to do that. There’s nothing to come away with that doesn’t say Baltimore is a winner in this deal.