Safety · Baltimore Ravens

Malaki Starks

No. 24 · 2nd season

Starks said his rookie year didn't meet his standard. He's already doing something about it.

The hardest thing to do after a rough year is admit it. Malaki Starks, a safety for the Baltimore Ravens, didn't wait to be asked.

Starks came in as a highly anticipated rookie, the kind of player a team builds expectations around. But when May rolled around and someone asked him about year one, he didn't reach for a silver lining. He said it didn't meet the standard he set for himself. Full stop.

Now he's working with Jon Gruden heading into training camp. Gruden has spent decades studying quarterbacks, which means he understands better than almost anyone how a defense gets beaten — and how to stop it.

For a young safety still finding his footing, that access matters. Not because one offseason fixes everything, but because it says something about where Starks's head is. He's not waiting on the team to sort it out for him.

Year two starts before the first whistle. Starks is already in the building.

Content sourced from publicly available information. Gripd is an independent fan platform not affiliated with the NFL or any team.