New Baltimore Ravens free safety Darian Stewart is not a high profile player.
He is a former undrafted free agent. He only started six games the last two seasons. And he wasn’t even ranked among the top 25 available safeties by ESPN heading into free agency.
But former St. Louis Rams vice president of player personnel Tony Softli thinks Stewart has the potential to be a solid starter as long as he can stay healthy.
The 25-year old Stewart signed with the Ravens Friday after spending the first four seasons of his career with the Rams.
Softli worked in the St. Louis front office from 2006 until 2010 and has since had a chance to watch Stewart while serving as a Rams and NFL analyst for 101 ESPN in St. Louis.
“He’s a good football player,” Softli said. “He’s a solid human being. They won’t have any issues with him that way — off the field — at least the Rams didn’t here, and I think he has starter caliber in him if he can just stay healthy.”
If he can stay healthy, Softli says the 5-foot-11, 214-pound Stewart should at the very least be a quality backup for Baltimore as well as an asset on special teams.
“If they ask him to go down in the box and play close to the line of scrimmage, he can do that. But yeah, he’s probably more of a free safety in the back end,” Softli said. “[He has] good awareness on the back end as far as football instincts and all that. He has fairly good range to help the corners deep out on the edge. And he can carry a tight end down the seam.
“So yeah, I could see him being a free safety in their scheme. No question.”
