Ravens Re-Sign Breakout Safety
The Baltimore Ravens announced on Monday that safety Ar’Darius Washington has officially signed a one-year, reported $3.263 million restricted free agent tender after receiving zero offers from other teams. The Ravens placed a right of first refusal tender on Washington earlier in the offseason allowing Baltimore to match an offer sheet from another team, but Washington did not receive an offer by the April 18th deadline. Washington is coming off a career year replacing Marcus Williams in Week Eight, helping to reignite the ferocity of Baltimore’s defense. Washington will become a free agent again in the 2026 offseason along with secondary mate Kyle Hamilton and many other key pieces from their roster.
Ar’Darius Washington was undrafted and had no franchise to play for until the Ravens signed him a few weeks after the 2021 NFL Draft. The safety from TCU played four games in 2018 to preserve his redshirt season, and then in 2019, Washington won the Big-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, making him one of the highest-ranked safeties returning to his program. Washington was originally projected by PFF to be a first or second-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, but his size negatively impacted his stock. At five-foot-eight and less than 180 pounds, scouts believed he would struggle playing overtop coverages, especially against receivers that measure over six feet tall as well as struggle in the open field when playing closer to the box. Washington saw selections come and go throughout the entire three draft days, never being selected and not being called for weeks after the draft, until the Ravens took a chance on him.
From 2021 to 2023, Washington found himself at the bottom of the depth chart behind Geno Stone, Marcus Williams, and Chuck Clark. Washington also had stints on the injured reserve, making the low-risk signing seem very experimental and almost a lost cause. In Washington’s first three seasons with the Ravens, the TCU undrafted free agent started one of the eight games he played in, recording 11 tackles, one sack, and two defended passes. Entering 2024, Washington still found himself behind Williams and newly acquired Eddie Jackson until Week Eight, when Marcus Williams did not travel with the team to Cleveland, giving Washington the start at safety next to Jackson rather than being strictly a special teams player. In the loss to Cleveland, Eddie Jackson played horrendously, dropping many potential interceptions and allowing the game-winning score, resulting in his benching and subsequent release later in the month.
Now with Jackson and Williams out of the picture, the Ravens felt confident in Washington starting at safety for the rest of the season with Kyle Hamilton. Washington recorded his first career interception in a Week Nine dismantling of Bo Nix’s Broncos and a career-high 12 tackles in a Week 11 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. One of the most impactful plays from Washington starting at safety was in the Christmas Day matchup in Houston. On Fourth and Goal, Washington stopped Joe Mixon along the sideline in a spectacular goal-line stop, causing defensive coordinator Zach Orr to celebrate and go viral for jumping over Washington and falling to the ground.
"Ar'Darius is a great example of a guy who got a chance and ran with it," General Manager Eric DeCosta said after the season. "This year, he stayed healthy, and he became that guy that we saw in college. He's tough, physical, a playmaker, instinctive, smart, a leader. He's a great story. Just another one of these undrafted guys over the years that we've had that has developed into being a really good football player."
Washington finished the season playing in all 17 games, recording 68 total tackles, eight defended passes, one sack, two QB hits, and two interceptions. This season was not an All-Pro or Pro Bowl-worthy season for Washington. The season may have been a one-year wonder performance, but Washington showed the Ravens front office that he did not lose any confidence in himself after three lackluster seasons. Now with his one-year tender keeping him in Baltimore until the 2026 offseason, Washington has the chance to prove to the other 31 franchises that the 2024 season was something he can improve on, size does not matter, and he can play safety in the NFL, despite all of the naysayers.
