OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Jay Higgins IV, an undrafted inside linebacker out of Iowa, was eating lunch in the Baltimore Ravens’ cafeteria on Tuesday when he got a tap on his shoulder. Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta wanted to talk with him.
It was the day when Baltimore had to cut its roster down to 53 players, and Higgins felt his heart rate rising as he walked down the hall to DeCosta’s office. When DeCosta broke the news that he made the Ravens roster, Higgins just bent over with his head facing the floor.
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“I was just lightheaded when he told me,” Higgins said after Wednesday’s practice. “I was so surprised.”
Higgins’ reaction was among the highlights of a Ravens video that captured the reactions of three undrafted rookies who overcame the steep challenge of making an NFL 53-man roster. In a span of four months, Higgins, cornerback Keyon Martin and safety Reuben Lowery went from the dejection of not getting selected in the NFL draft to the joy of landing a spot on a Super Bowl contender’s roster.
Higgins’ family put the video in a group chat. Inside linebackers coach Tyler Santucci played the video in the meeting room.
“We were celebrating everybody, just to see the surprise in our faces and just how happy we were,” Higgins said.
Martin’s road was the toughest one of them all. Coming from Louisiana-Lafayette, he had no offers after he went undrafted and he received one call for a tryout.
“It was pretty hard on me. I’m not going to lie, coming out right after the draft, realizing that nobody was going to sign me,” Martin said. “But once I got that call about the [Ravens] rookie minicamp, I’m like, all right, ‘It’s on me now.’ So I knew that if I wanted to come in and do what I really wanted to do in the NFL, I just had to come out here and prove it.”
In the second preseason game, Martin recorded a safety. In the third one, he returned an interception for a touchdown.
“Every day I step in this building, I know that I’m beating the odds,” Martin said. “So I’m just enjoying the journey really.”
Dreams becoming a reality.
Eric DeCosta surprises three undrafted rookies with news they made the 53-man roster. 🥹 🥹 pic.twitter.com/8Rf2shoQoz
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 27, 2025
What the Ravens’ cameras didn’t capture was an exchange between Martin and Lowery on a stairwell. Lowery was walking down after being told the good news that he made the team, and Martin was heading up to DeCosta’s office.
“We didn’t even have to say any words. It was just a big hug,” Lowery said. “It was like a movie moment, honestly.”
Lowery still remembers how he waited an hour after the draft ended to get his only call from an NFL team. The Ravens offered him a one-year deal that included no signing bonus.
But Lowery hasn’t had time to appreciate the moment that he made the Ravens.
“It is hard to wrap your mind around honestly right now because your brain, especially in camp, has been so focused on working, working, working, working,” Lowery said. “But one day, I’m going to definitely look back on it and be like, ‘Wow, this is insane.'”
Lowery was on the dean’s list at Tennessee-Chattanooga and has a degree in mechanical engineering. So, was it tougher to get his degree or make the Ravens?
“That’s a good question,” Lowery said. “I would say [the Ravens], just because it’s a new atmosphere, it’s new people. Mechanical engineering is hard, but you just go into a classroom every day and you figure it out. But ‘Play like a Raven’ means something here.”
