gives the Steelers great versatility.<\/a><\/p>\nDepth is sound here now, too, with the addition of Darnell Savage in free agency. He can play both safety positions, can chip in on special teams, and has experience under position coaches Joe Whitt Jr. and Jason Simmons. Sebastian Castro is making a real push for a roster spot this season, too, while rookie seventh-round pick Robert Spears-Jennings is intriguing and someone worth developing.<\/p>\n
Jack Henderson will compete for a practice squad job in training camp,<\/p>\n
2. BALTIMORE RAVENS<\/p>\n
It\u2019s tough to have a safety room with Kyle Hamilton ranked No. 2 here, but I have some concerns with Baltimore\u2019s safeties behind him.<\/p>\n
Hamilton was outstanding last season, earning first-team All-Pro honors and another Pro Bowl nod. He didn\u2019t have an interception, but he was a vital part of the Ravens\u2019 late-season defensive turnaround.<\/p>\n
On paper, Malaki Starks is a strong No. 2 option next to Hamilton moving forward and should give Baltimore the best safety room in the division in the future. But he struggled as a rookie missing 12 tackles and allowing nearly a 70% completion rate when in coverage. He has a high ceiling and could take a step forward under new head coach Jesse Minter, but his first NFL season was rough.<\/p>\n
The Ravens did well to sign Jaylinn Hawkins in free agency, giving them a veteran to lean on in case Starks struggles. Hawkins was Pro Football Focus\u2019 fifth-highest graded safety last season and projects as a great fit in Minter\u2019s scheme. But how much he sees the field remains the question.<\/p>\n
Depth behind those three is a concern. Second-year pro Keondre Jackson and rookie undrafted free agents Jahquez Robinson and Silas Walters will battle it out for the fourth safety role.<\/p>\n
3. CLEVELAND BROWNS<\/p>\n
The Browns might be reeling a bit defensively right now after the Myles Garrett trade, but they still have a pretty solid safety room that only got better in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n
Grant Delpit is the headliner for Cleveland. He\u2019s coming off a strong season in which he recorded 89 tackles, 3.0 sacks, and one interception. He was an interchangeable piece for former defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, so now he\u2019ll take on another big role under new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg.<\/p>\n
Along with Delpit, the Browns brought back Ronnie Hickman, who is primarily a free safety. He had two interceptions last season and played a career-high 1,042 snaps. Together, he forms a strong duo with Delpit.<\/p>\n
The Browns made a significant upgrade this offseason in the draft too, landing Toledo\u2019s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren in the second round. He was arguably one of the best safeties in the class but shockingly fell, and the Browns took advantage. He could be a real game-changing piece for Cleveland.<\/p>\n
Depth here is decent with veteran special teams ace Daniel Thomas still around, along with second-year pros Donovan McMillan and Christopher Edmonds. Rookie undrafted free agent Zion Washington will battle for a practice squad role.<\/p>\n
4. CINCINNATI BENGALS<\/p>\n
The Bengals made a very nice signing in free agency, snagging Bryan Cook away from Kansas City. He gives the Bengals a real boost at safety.<\/p>\n
Cook had 85 tackles last season with the Chiefs, but he didn\u2019t force any turnovers, and has just five takeaways in his career. He\u2019s a physical defender, but he doesn\u2019t bring much in that aspect of the game. But if he can be that dependable, assignment-sound guy back there, the Bengals will be just fine.<\/p>\n
Jordan Battle aims to take a significant step forward in Year 3, too. Battle had a breakout year last season, recording a career-high four interceptions. He had good ball skills at Alabama and that has carried over to the NFL. The future looks very bright for him.<\/p>\n
Cincinnati also brought in veteran Kyle Dugger in free agency, landing the former Steelers safety<\/a>. Dugger had some great moments with the Steelers, including his pick-six against the Bengals last year. But down the stretch he fell off significantly and was a real liability in coverage.<\/p>\nRuss Yeast is an intriguing piece with some versatility to play in the slot, in the box and deep safety, while PJ Jules and Daijahn Anthony return to battle it out for a roster spot. The Bengals added rookie UDFA Isaiah Nwokobia, too, giving them some options down the roster behind some of the veterans.<\/p>\n
2025 AFC North S rankings:\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. 1 \u2013 Baltimore Ravens<\/p>\n
No. 2 \u2013 Pittsburgh Steelers<\/p>\n
No. 3 \u2013 Cleveland Browns<\/p>\n
No. 4 \u2013 Cincinnati Bengals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gone are the glory days with the likes of Hall of Famers Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed roaming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[1990,117,228,35570,227,256,2296,54,7,10778,1815,1506,6,57],"class_list":["post-916165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-bengals","tag-afc-north","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-bengals","tag-bryan-cook","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cincinnatibengals","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-football","tag-grant-delpit","tag-jalen-ramsey","tag-kyle-hamilton","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116732666812295111","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916165","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=916165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}