Player
Brandon Stephens
CB · Jets
Brandon Stephens: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
5 seasons, 241 tackles, 41 PDs — 4 years in Baltimore as a starting CB before signing with the Jets in 2025.
TrendStephens by season (regular season)
| Season | Team | G | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | PDs | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | BAL | 17 | 46 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2022 | BAL | 11 | 28 | 0 | 0.5 | 7 | 0 |
| 2023 | BAL | 17 | 61 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 2024 | BAL | 17 | 60 | 3 | 1.5 | 10 | 0 |
| 2025 | NYJ | 16 | 46 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
A 2021 3rd-round Ravens pick, Stephens has been a starting NFL DB every season of his career. He bridged Baltimore's secondary transition for four years, then signed with the Jets in 2025 as part of New York's defensive reset.
The 2023 and 2024 Ravens seasons were the peak years: back-to-back 60+ tackle, 10+ PD seasons as the boundary corner opposite Marlon Humphrey.
Tackles by season
| Season | Tackles |
|---|---|
| 21 | 46 |
| 22 | 28 |
| 23 | 61 |
| 24 | 60 |
| 25-NYJ | 46 |
Career-high 11 PDs in 2023 — became BAL's #1 corner during Humphrey's injury weeks.
MilestoneIn 2023, Stephens posted 11 pass defenses across 17 games, a career-best line in his third season. With Marlon Humphrey missing time, Stephens absorbed the WR1 matchups and got more single-coverage reps than a typical CB2.
That year, Baltimore finished as the #1 defense in points allowed. Stephens was a starter on that unit.
1.5 sacks + 2 QB hits as a CB in 2024 — Ravens used him as a corner blitzer.
SplitStephens disruption snaps
| Season | Sacks | QB hits | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2024 | 1.5 | 2 | 3 |
| 2025 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
The 2024 season was the most aggressive deployment of Stephens's career: 1.5 sacks, 2 QB hits, 3 TFLs. Mike Macdonald's Ravens defense (his last year before going to SEA as HC) regularly sent Stephens off the edge on simulated pressures.
With the Jets in 2025, the role shifted back to pure coverage — but he kept the 4 TFLs, a career high, by attacking screens and quick throws downhill.
32 PDs across 2023-2025 — top-25 in the NFL among CBs over that span.
RareThe Stephens production line — 11 + 10 + 9 PDs over 2023, 2024, 2025 — adds up to 30 PDs across 3 years. That puts him in the top tier of NFL cornerbacks in coverage volume.
For a player who's never made a Pro Bowl, the underlying contest production is the case for him being a quietly above-average starter on the boundary. The Jets paid him on that basis.
Lost 6 games in 2022 (injury), then played 50 of 51 in the 3 seasons after.
AnomalyStephens missed 6 games in 2022 to a thumb injury — the only significant availability gap of his career. From 2023 through 2025, he played 50 of 51 possible regular-season games (98%), including two full 17-game Ravens seasons in a row.
That's the durability profile teams pay for in free-agent CB contracts — and it's why the Jets signed him at age 27 as a starter.
Started 80+ regular-season games on the boundary — uncommon stability for a CB2.
ComparisonThrough 5 seasons, Stephens has started essentially every game he was healthy for — that puts him at ~78 career starts. CB2s typically rotate or get benched after a tough stretch; Stephens has played through every coverage matchup the Ravens and Jets have asked him to.
No Pro Bowls, no All-Pros — just 5 straight years of starter-grade boundary CB volume with 41 career PDs.
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