One-time Lions' budding star gets another (and his last?) shot in the NFL
During the 2021 season, there weren't many bright spots for the Detroit Lions has Dan Campbell tried to set the foundation for what has come since. One of those bright spots was cornerback Amani Oruwariye, who led the team and tied for third in the league with six interceptions.
But there were red flags in that breakthrough. Pro Football Focus graded Oruwariye as their 89th-best cornerback that season (minimum of around 250 snaps), and his coverage grade came in 83rd out of 129 qualifiers under that minimum snap criteria.
During the 2022 season, those red flags could not be hidden. Oruwariye was benched in Week 5, and eventually only played defensive snaps when injuries to the Lions' secondary forced it over the rest of the season.
Oruwariye split the 2023 season between the New York Giants and the Jacksonville Jaguars, with one game on the active roster for the Jaguars around otherwise being on the practice squad for both teams. He latched on with the Dallas Cowboys in 2024, playing in seven games while making four starts for them last season (including a game against the Lions in Week 6).
Oruwariye signed with the Tennessee Titans in May, then they released him. The Titans briefly re-signed him to their practice squad in late-August, before releasing him again. He had a workout with the Indianapolis Colts in September, but they did not sign him.
Amani Oruwariye gets another (and his last?) shot in the NFL with injury-riddled team
The Baltimore Ravens are reeling at 1-3, with multiple key injuries on a struggling defense and two notable new injuries in their cornerback room (Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins). Oruwariye was among four defensive backs they had in for a workout on Wednesday, and according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz he was the one they signed.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 1, 2025Source: The #Ravens are signing CB Amani Oruwariye, following the latest injuries to their secondary, including Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins.
Oruwariye spent last season with the Cowboys, starting six games. He has 10 career INTs, including 6 INTs and 11 pass breakups in…
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Oruwariye, with 29 starts over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, once looked like a building block for the Lions' defense and a rare draft find by former general manager Bob Quinn. Now he is a certified journeyman, as he hangs on with 40 starts on his resume and a place on the so-called "emergency lists" around the league.
Maybe Oruwariye will be able to stick with the Ravens for the rest of the season. But recent history says it'll be a short-term thing, and he'll be looking for his next opportunity soon enough as he tries to keep his NFL career from coming to an end.
Patriots Defense Made Key Adjustment to Beat Joe Flacco, Bengals
Facing a Cincinnati Bengals team without injured quarterback Joe Burrow and suspended star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase should’ve been a chance for the New England Patriots to feast on defense, but instead the unit needed to make a key adjustment to hold veteran backup Joe Flacco at bay late in Week 12’s 26-20 win on the road.
The adjustment was made on the final drive at Paycor Stadium, when the Patriots finally sent extra rushers after 40-year-old Flacco. As Next Gen Stats, via NFL Pro revealed, “The Patriots did not blitz until the final Bengals drive, in which they blitzed four times, with Joe Flacco completing just 1 of 4 passes (12 yards) against the blitz. Despite their low blitz rate (10.3%, their 2nd-lowest this season), the Patriots still generated pressure on 41.0% of their pass rushes.”
Sending the blitz proved worth the risk when the Pats sent “the house on 4th & 10, K’Lavon Chaisson gets a hit on the QB, and Marcus Jones breaks up the throw to Mike Gesicki,” per Taylor Kyles of Patriots on CLNS.
The telling contribution by Jones capped a clutch performance from the nickelback, who also scored on a pick-six to help dig the Patriots out of an early hole. Jones’ theft was the result of cleverly disguised coverage, making this game a strong endorsement of the defensive staff led by stand-in coordinator Zak Kuhr.
Patriots Needed Sophisticated Defense
A rare dismal showing from QB1 Drake Maye left the Patriots needing to lean on their defense in Cincinnati. Fortunately, Kuhr had a nuanced plan based around sophisticated coverage concepts and pressure packages.
The layers of disguise in their coverage showed up most effectively when Jones picked off Flacco and went to the house in the second quarter. It happened because “on their first pick-six since the 2023 season (Kyle Dugger vs. Miami), New England plays the early down in quarters coverage with a four-deep, three-under zone coverage,” according to Patriots.com Staff Writer Evan Lazar.
This coverage design fooled Flacco, who saw “the deep-zone coverage taking away his downfield routes, and thinks he’s just going to harmlessly check it down into the flat to RB Tahj Brooks. Instead, NCB Marcus Jones was baiting Flacco to throw the check-down the entire time, and jumped the flat for a 33-yard pick-six that was a sweet, sweet play by Jones.”
Changing the picture on the back end was necessary to keep a battle-tested veteran with Flacco’s level of experience guessing. Yet for all the rotations in the secondary, the Patriots still needed a more direct approach to seal the win.
Zak Kuhr Adjusted Core Plan in Key Moment
When Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel hired Terrell Williams to be his defensive coordinator, he hoped for a defense based on getting pressure with only four rushers. Williams has taken a leave of absence to deal with health problems, but Kuhr has mostly stuck to the same blueprint, at least until the waning moments against the Bengals.
That’s when Kuhr pushed the blitz button to great effect. His more aggressive approach worked to unleash edge-rusher K’Lavon Chaisson, while also helping fellow edge Harold Landry III notch the Patriots’ only sack.
Registering just a single sack shows the Patriots still have a problem getting to quarterbacks often enough. The defense has recorded a mere 23 QB takedowns, per Pro Football Reference, because there isn’t a bluechip pass-rusher in the lineup.
It means Kuhr will be wise to continue drawing up elaborate ways to send additional rushers to wreck the pocket. Blitzing can offset the absence of elite talent on the edges, while it will also help the defense compensate for any further below-par days from Maye and the offense.
