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Kyle Hamilton is the highest-paid safety in NFL history, but is the Ravens star truly the best at his position?
Kyle Hamilton has signed a record-setting extension with the Baltimore Ravens, resetting the market for NFL safeties.
His new contract averages $3.6 million more per year than the previous top-paid safety, Kerby Joseph of the Lions, with guarantees that far exceed everyone else at the position.
Such a massive contract begs the question: Is Hamilton the league’s best safety? I take a closer look below.
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Hamilton's career by the numbers
The former Notre Dame star wasn't a full-time starter as a rookie in 2022, but he still made a significant impact, earning a spot on the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie team.
In his second year, he became a key component of the Ravens' defense and earned the first of two Pro Bowl nods after finishing with 81 tackles, three sacks, a forced fumble, four interceptions, and 13 pass breakups.
Last year, he produced 107 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles, an interception, and nine pass breakups, and was named an All-Pro in recognition of his talent.
In the two years Hamilton has been a starter, he has never led NFL safeties in tackles, sacks, forced fumbles, interceptions, pass breakups, or any other category often used to measure a defensive back's production.
However, most NFL fans recognise that these numbers are only a small part of the puzzle, and that a player's impact cannot be fully measured in counting statistics alone.
Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades every snap of every player in every game and awards them a score out of 100 for each game. Game-by-game grades collectively form the player’s overall season grade.
In his rookie year, PFF awarded Hamilton an overall grade of 82.3, which ranked fifth among 101 safeties.
In 2023, his 84.7 PFF grade placed ninth, and last year, his 90.1 grade ranked second.
By that measure, Hamilton’s consistency is unrivaled, as no other NFL safety has finished in the top 10 for three consecutive seasons between 2022 and 2024.
Is Hamilton the best safety in the NFL?
It's a bold statement, but if you took the best traits of every other safety in the league and combined them into a single player, Hamilton would arguably be the closest thing to the result.
Brian Branch, Derwin James, Antoine Winfield, Xavier McKinney, Budda Baker, Jessie Bates III, and maybe one or two others are in the conversation, but very few can rival Hamilton's versatility, impact, and long-term potential.
Hamilton excels in pass coverage, is a force against the run, and he can blitz as well as, if not better than, all of his peers. And his fellow players recognise that fact.
Phrases like "chess piece" are thrown around too loosely when describing modern NFL safeties, considering how almost all players at the position are expected to contribute in a do-it-all fashion.
But the fact that Hamilton performs so many different roles at an elite level, whether aligned as a deep safety or in the box, is what truly makes him special.
What's his long-term outlook?
Still only 24, Hamilton has his whole career ahead of him.
That he's performing so well, at such a young age, is incredibly exciting when you think about how much potential he still has to grow.
He's yet to win a Super Bowl, but the Ravens have a stacked roster and are one of the favourites to hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy this year.
Hamilton is looking forward to the challenge.
If Hamilton sustains his current level of play throughout his career and helps the Ravens capture the sport's biggest prize, it’s no exaggeration to say he could one day be remembered as one of the all-time greats.
Did he deserve his record-setting deal?
In a word, yes. Hamilton has consistently performed at the highest level, and his versatility means he offers so much more to the Ravens' defense than a typical safety does in any other scheme.
The NFL’s rising salary cap is fuelling record-breaking contracts across every position. Kyle Hamilton’s extension sets the bar for safeties now, but it will be eclipsed in the near future, perhaps when Branch signs his next deal.
But with the way he elevates head coach John Harbaugh’s defense, Hamilton is every bit worth his new contract in today’s market.
Harbaugh might be a little biased, but he agrees with my take.
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