Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey made a major change in 2026 that could lead to a much different season.
Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey is one of the hardest workers on the team, but that hard work may have come with a price in 2025.
Speaking to "The Lounge," Humphrey revealed that his training camp in 2025 was chock-full of him showing up every day. While that proves a point as a veteran to get the work in, the cornerback also stated that he was "fighting" at the wrong time.
Now, Humphrey has said he dialed things back in 2026 to ensure he can play healthy throughout the full season.
"Yeah, there was actually like days when they 'Hey, let's just take a day,' and I'm just you know, it's the football has changed a lot, as we all know. It's but there's, I'm a little still like wired old school of the whole, like 'No man you don't need an off day,'" Humphrey said.
Humphrey admitted that he has an old-school approach to practice, which led him to take immense pride in showing up at each one. The issue is that he is a nine-year veteran and needs to treat his body as such.
Now, the cornerback admitted that he is listening more to coaches when they tell him that he needs to "take a day," and simply allow his body to rest.
"But that's kind of what made last year different. You don't want to fight through training camp because the season, if you're going to fight, you want to fight through the season," Humphrey said.
Humphrey indicated that his "fight" needs to be through the season, and now through training camp, when the ramp-up matters more than showing up every single day.
The Ravens corner missed two games in 2025, but those two games without a top secondary player do matter a great deal. Baltimore needs Humphrey to be on the field as much as possible, as he is the leader of that unit.
Humphrey, alongside Chidobe Awuzie and Nate Wiggins, forms a very strong trio, but one that can lose its power if someone is injured.
The Ravens defense gave up a second-worst 274.9 passing yards per game, which was only one part of how the entire defensive unit struggled in general.
Now, with head coach Jesse Minter and defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver back in the building, they are expected to turn things around on that side of the ball.
A big way they can do just that is by tightening the secondary and ensuring that Humphrey does not gas himself out at a time when he should not be doing so.
There is an expectation that the Ravens can turn things around in a major way in 2026, but it will need to be due to the hard work on the field from the entire team coming together under Minter's leadership.
If Minter tells Humphrey to take a day off, he should probably listen to that advice.
