Kyle Hamilton Headlines Most Versatile Players List
All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton has been called a Swiss Army Knife and a do-it-all player, so of course he was included on The Athletic’s list of the NFL’s 10 most versatile players.
In fact, Hamilton didn’t just make the list; he was hailed as its “poster boy” by The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen.
“He was drafted to the perfect team to develop and deploy his skill set,” Nguyen wrote. “He does everything well, and Mike Macdonald, who was the defensive coordinator in Baltimore when Hamilton was drafted, had a vision for how to use him. He was a tight end eraser, could cover slots decently and was a monster against perimeter runs and screens. Macdonald’s system is at its best when he can move his players all around his defense, and Hamilton can line up everywhere in the second and third levels and excel.”
Hamilton continued to excel in 2024 under first-year Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr.
“When the Ravens defense was struggling last season, Hamilton had to stay deep at free safety more to stop teams from beating them over the top,” Nguyen wrote. “After giving up 41 points to the Buccaneers and 29 points to Cleveland’s listless offense, Hamilton lined up deep on 56 percent of snaps from Weeks 9-18 — an increase of 32 percent from his deep alignment rate from Weeks 1-8. He almost immediately solidified the secondary and stopped the hemorrhaging.
“Obviously, Hamilton wasn’t the sole reason the defense improved, but he was a big part of it. For Hamilton, who played most of his snaps near the line of scrimmage, to effortlessly transition into a mostly deep player shows his immense value. There aren’t many players in the league who can shut down the perimeter plays near the line of scrimmage, cover different body types, and then line up in deep zones and take away that part of the field.”