{"id":755188,"date":"2026-02-16T03:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T03:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/755188\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T03:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T03:22:24","slug":"former-georgia-first-round-pick-named-as-ravens-breakout-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/755188\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Georgia first-round pick named as Ravens breakout candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Updated Feb. 15, 2026, 7:51 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Former <a href=\"\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Georgia Bulldogs<\/a> safety <a href=\"http:\/\/ugawire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/bulldogs\/football\/2025\/05\/05\/projecting-georgia-football-draft-malaki-starks-rookie-contract\/83387280007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Malaki Starks<\/a> has been named a breakout candidate for the Baltimore Ravens in 2026. Starks was a <a href=\"http:\/\/ugawire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/bulldogs\/football\/2025\/04\/29\/13-georgia-bulldogs-football-picked-2025-nfl-draft\/83297453007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">first-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft<\/a> and played an important role for the Ravens as a rookie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Unfortunately, Baltimore missed the postseason and fired coach John Harbaugh. A 1-5 start that featured extensive defensive struggles doomed Baltimore. The Ravens had a chance to make the playoffs with a win in Week 18, but lost to AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Part of Baltimore&#8217;s turnaround was the acquisition of former Los Angeles Chargers safety Alohi Gilman. The Ravens used Gilman&#8217;s steady presence to get more out of star safety Kyle Hamilton, who had another outstanding season.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:440px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/88626219007-2254693155.jpg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Malaki Starks #24 of the Baltimore Ravens breaks up a pass intended for Marquez Valdes-Scantling #11 of the Pittsburgh Steelers\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">As a rookie, Starks finished the year with 84 tackles, four pass deflections and two interceptions. He will be one of the Ravens&#8217; building blocks for the future, but he has room to improve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;He (Starks) earned a solid 68.9 PFF overall grade across more than 1,000 snaps in his rookie season,&#8221; Dalton Wasserman of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/news\/nfl-early-2026-breakout-candidates-every-nfl-team?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=dhtwitter&amp;utm_content=null\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pro Football Focus wrote<\/a>. &#8220;Starks\u2019 79.9 PFF run-defense grade was a top-20 mark among qualified safeties, and he should continue to improve in coverage with more experience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">If Starks can take another step in 2026, the Ravens will have a better chance of returning to the playoffs. Starks and the Baltimore defense will look to start the 2026 season better.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_cp_cw_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771212144_195_87430383007-2247395695.jpg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Follow UGA Wire on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ugawire\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@ugawire\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Threads<\/a> for more <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/ncaaf\/teams\/georgia-bulldogs\/3473\/\" data-autotag=\"3248d159-97eb-4f61-bd09-3a6f38114d58\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Georgia<\/a> football coverage!<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated Feb. 15, 2026, 7:51 p.m. ET Former Georgia Bulldogs safety Malaki Starks has been named a breakout&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[95878,184,117,2282,7,6,169,99667,96358,100769,95882,96027,98588,95896,95906,96099,96100,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-755188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-baltimore","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-baltimoreravens","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-ravens","15":"tag-sstssportscollegebulldogsfootball","16":"tag-sstsnfootball","17":"tag-tagalohi-gilman","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagcollege-sports","20":"tag-taggeorgia-bulldogs-football","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagoverall-positive","23":"tag-tagsec-conference-football","24":"tag-tagsec-hub","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116078165749289717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}