Former undrafted free agent is making the most of expanded role in Ravens defense

Ar’Darius Washington isn’t letting his long-awaited opportunity to be a full-time starting safety go to waste by making plays and bringing stability to the secondary.

Baltimore Ravens safety Ar’Darius Washington didn’t let his lack of ideal size stop him from carving out a standout career as a safety at the collegiate level for the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs.

Nevertheless, concerns about how he’d hold up in the pros at 5-foot-8 and under 200 pounds caused him to go undrafted coming out of college in 2021 and injuries kept him from breaking out during his first three seasons in the NFL. Now that he has finally put them both behind him, Washington is seizing the opportunity to carve out a larger role in the defense beyond being a rotational nickel option.

Even though the Ravens came up short of victory this past Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it marked the best game by their secondary since Week 4 which also happened to coincide with Washington’s first career start at safety. He lined up next to All Pro safety Kyle Hamilton and brought a greater sense of stability and soundness to what has been the last-ranked pass defense for most of the season.

“It meant a lot,” Washington said Thursday. “All the hard work that I put in, it finally comes into play this year.”

Even though he finished second on the team with a single-game career-high 12 total tackles and the Ravens’ pass rush and coverage unit played in harmonious accord for a full game for just the second time all season, the end result of defeat wasn’t good enough.

“We stepped up, and we had made a huge step,” Washington said. “But we lost the game, at the end of the day, so we’re trying to come out on the other side of that, for sure.”

After making the team as an undrafted rookie, a foot injury landed him on season-ending injured reserve following just three appearances in regular season games. He spent most of the 2022 season bouncing between the practice squad and the active roster after not making the final cut out of training camp. Last year, he won the starting nickel job in camp but a pectoral injury that required surgery put him out of commission until the playoffs after a strong first two weeks of the regular season.

Washington’s teammates have had front-row seats to his trials and tribulations and are elated to see all of his hard work and resiliency bear fruit that they are all benefiting from.

“In my three years here, ‘A.D.’ has been one of the more resilient people on the team,” Hamilton said Thursday. “He’s had injuries; he’s had times where he might have not been in the rotation; he’s had times where he’s been put in the rotation [and] had another injury. He’s just been super consistent ever since I’ve been here, and to see him get an opportunity and excel with the opportunity, I think he’s not just back there – I think he’s back there making plays and doing his job at a high level.

“[I’m] super happy for him and just thankful I get to play besides somebody like that and have somebody who’s as much of a professional as he is [after] maybe not [being] in the position that he wanted to be in at the start of the season. We’re getting down to the crunch time of the season, and he’s a big part of our defense. So, I’m just happy for him and excited.”

Washington credited his unwavering faith in himself and “trusting in God” for getting him through his highs and lows up to this point.

“Having that faith and that confidence within myself, knowing that once I get my opportunity, I was going to make some plays, for sure,” Washington said.

Even before being elevated to full-time starter status, Washington was stepping up and making plays in the Ravens defense this year while still being an impactful presence on special teams. In the team’s last two wins, he made clutch plays in coverage near the goal line. The first helped secure a second-half shutout in a blowout win over the Denver Broncos. The second forced an incompletion on a target to tight end on a two-point conversion to seal the thrilling win over the Cincinnati Bengals to complete the regular season sweep.

Through 11 games, Washington has already set new career highs in total tackles (36), tackles for loss (three) and pass breakups (six) while also recording a sack, two quarterback hits and his first career interception. His instincts, physicality and high football IQ are evident whenever he is on the field and has led to him making several clutch stops to force punts, turnovers and field goal attempts.

“Then the competitiveness – the effort to the football, the toughness, tackling. ‘A.D.’s what – 5-foot-7? 5-foot-8? But he throws his stuff in there,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said Friday. “That’s what you want, that’s what you appreciate. He played like a Raven. I look forward to seeing what he’s going to do Monday night.”

Washington’s pathway to prominence from humble beginnings which has led him to replace a high-priced veteran free agent in the starting lineup resembles that of former Ravens stalwart safety Chuck Clark. A sixth-round pick in 2017, after being a key special teams contributor and role player on defense when called upon, Clark got his first opportunity to start due to Tony Jefferson getting hurt in 2019. He eventually replaced seven-time Pro Bowler Earl Thomas as a full-time start the following year.

The biggest difference between their two parallel yet disparate paths was how injuries kept Washington from making the most of well-earned opportunities in two of his first three seasons. He was able to finally earn his chance to start by blatantly outplaying veteran Marcus Williams whose struggles with consistency and communication led to several of the Ravens’ breakdowns and coverage lapses through the first 10 games when he was active and playing in a prominent role.

”There were parts of it that were tough, but like I said, I just kept that confidence within myself, knowing that I was going to come back and be the same exact player that I was when I got those injuries,” Washington said. “All I needed was the opportunity, and it shows.”