Ozzie Newsome has said many times that you can never have enough good cornerbacks. As the NFL has transitioned to a pass happy league, quality depth in the secondary can often make or break a team’s chances of advancing deep in the playoffs. To make it to the NFL’s biggest stage, you often have to run the elite quarterback gauntlet. Just look at the Ravens’ 2012 Super Bowl. They had to take down Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Colin Kaepernick. No easy task, to say the least.
The cornerback position was the Ravens’ achilles heel in 2014. All the other pieces were in place, but injuries tested their depth, and ultimately there wasn’t enough there. The Ravens are clearly not willing to take that risk again in 2015. After recently signing Kyle Arrington to be their nickel corner, the Ravens added some quality depth today with the signing of Cassius Vaughn. He was signed to a veteran minimum deal according to Aaron Wilson.
Vaughn will be joining the Ravens after spending time in Denver, Indianapolis and most recently Detroit. The Ravens will be his fourth team in six years. Needless to say, Vaughan is no Darrelle Revis, but the signing is a logical and smart move for the Ravens.
Barring injury, Dean Pees will not count on Vaughn to be a starter for his squad. However, if any of the Ravens starting corners do go down during the course of the season, Vaughn has significant starting experience the last three years. He has started 23 games throughout his five year career with a total of seven interceptions in that span.
His best year was 2013 when he intercepted three passes, played in all sixteen games, and started four. Vaughn is also fairly young at 27 years old despite already playing five full seasons.
Off the field, Vaughn has a reputation as a high character player and a great locker room guy. He has been well liked by teammates and coaches everywhere he has gone. While being able to contribute on the field is clearly the priority, the Ravens have made it a point of emphasis to improve the reputation of their players off of it. Vaughn seems to fit that mold.
Vaughn will compete for a roster spot and playing time with Rashaan Melvin, Asa Jackson and Tray Walker. While the hope is that he won’t have to be a starter, he certainly has the ability to step into a starting role in the event Webb, Smith or Arrington goes down.
The Ravens didn’t add a starting cornerback today, but they added good depth for short money. In doing so, they took another small step in insuring that this year’s secondary doesn’t have a repeat performance of 2014. It’s a typical under-the-radar Ozzie Newsome signing.
Come January, it could be a low risk move that pays big dividends.
