As Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton and cornerback Marlon Humphrey made their way around the golf course, their conversation circled to their teammate, cornerback Brandon Stephens.

A college running back turned defensive back turned breakout Ravens cornerback, Stephens has rounded out into one of the most consistent players on the team.

“Just speaking on B-Steve, just give him his flowers,” Hamilton said. “I think he’s one of the most underrated players in this league, not just cornerbacks.”

A quick glance at the stats makes that statement sound like the bias of a teammate. Stephens has given up 23 catches on 36 targets for 305 yards this season. Not bad — his catches against rank 18th most and his yards against rank 11th most — but not among the best.

It’s just that, in this case, the stats don’t tell the story.

“I think, if you know football and watch it at a close level, you can appreciate what he does,” Hamilton said. “He’s really, like, one of the most technical corners in the NFL that we have in our league.”

A closer look at the film confirms Hamilton’s impressions.

Although there have been a handful of plays on which Stephens made a mistake or got beat, he’s also frequently been the victim of nearly perfect throws and highlight-reel catches.

Look at his game against Las Vegas, for example. Stephens had the dubious privilege of covering Davante Adams in his one and only superstar game for the Raiders this season. On the first catch Adams made for 26 yards, he simply cooked Stephens on a route.

But then Stephens tightened up. On the next two big catches, Stephens stayed on Adams’ hip. On both plays, when Adams turned back to the ball, it looked as if he was out of bounds. Stephens had his hand ready to defend a pass on one of them. On each, Adams made an incredible grab, followed by a quick toe tap. Stephens was otherwise solid, but those three catches went for 64 yards. The two sideline catches totaled 35 yards.

The same happened against the Buffalo Bills. Stephens stayed on top of Keon Coleman, yet the big rookie came down with a 50-50 ball twice. Perhaps Stephens contested the catch a split second too late on the first one, but he was in good position. On the second, his momentum forward kept him from turning back with Coleman to contest the catch, but he was still right next to the receiver. And, like Adams, Coleman looked like he was out of bounds but got his toes in.

If you dive deeper into the stats, they back up the film. Among defenders who’ve been targeted at least 20 times this season, Stephens ranks third in the lowest average distance from the receiver when the pass arrives (1.7 yards). That’s nearly a half-yard better than Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II, an early favorite for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Coach John Harbaugh, who was a defensive back at Miami University and coached them for the Philadelphia Eagles, said that’s the nature of the cornerback position. You get put on an island against great receivers. And, he added, the Ravens play a lot of single high coverage in man-to-man defense because they don’t “protect our corners at all costs.”

“And Brandon, they’ve put great receivers on him, and they’ve thrown fades against press-man, and I think he’s held up really well,” Harbaugh said. “There have been plays, obviously, that have been made, he’s had plays he’d want to have back, but there are really not too many that I would look at and say, ‘Hey, that’s poor technique’ — really none.”

In fact, his game against the Commanders was a textbook performance.

A film breakdown by Road Graders explained how Stephens shows impressive change-of-direction skills that allow him to stay on top of receivers. On one pass breakup against Terry McLaurin, Stephens stayed with him through his releases and caught up in time to contest the catch. However, instead of playing the ball, Stephens “plays [McLaurin’s] hands.” It resulted in a pass breakup.

However, on two others, Stephens once again had his hands ready and in position to play the receiver’s hands, but quarterback Jayden Daniels delivered perfect passes, followed by perfect catches from McLaurin. One went for a touchdown.

According to Next Gen Stats, McLaurin matched up against Stephens for 73.3% of his 30 routes and made three of four catches for 28 yards and a touchdown against Stephens. Yet Stephens forced a tight window on every target for an average target separation of 0.5 yards.

This season, Stephens has forced a tight window on 50% of his targets. That leads all NFL cornerbacks with 30 targets or more — by a lot. No other cornerback has forced a tight window on more than 40% of his targets.

Social media football coaches have said Stephens needs to turn his head, and Road Graders addressed the topic by saying it seems Stephens has been taught to focus on the receivers’ hands instead of the ball.

Although Hamilton did say the team needs to do a better job of catching the ball when interceptions are thrown at them, multiple players said it’s not as easy as simply turning your head to keep track of the ball. That can lead to a higher risk of losing track of the receiver, which can turn into a bigger gain. It all depends on the situation or what Harbaugh calls the “relationship.”

“I wish there was a hard-and-fast rule for when [to keep eyes on the receiver or play the catch point] because the problem is no two situations are ever exactly the same,” Harbaugh said. “The timing, your leverage, your relationship — how far away you are, how close you are, where the ball is, when the ball gets there — all those things are different. It’s probably more of a reaction type of a thing, if you play through your fundamentals. We want to do a good job at the line.”

Stephens, who spoke last season about how he embraces the challenge of playing on an island, remains confident in his abilities and excited for the next challenge.

“You gotta make it a perfect throw to complete on me, and shoot, the [Daniels-to-McLaurin] touchdown on the sideline, it was a perfect throw, a perfect catch,” Stephens said.

Of course, he’s aware there are things he can improve on. He said he could be more consistent (despite Hamilton’s assessment that “play in and play out, his technique never changes”), and that there are things he can do beyond sticking with his opponents to make it harder for them to make the completion.

Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers represents an opportunity for luck on the 50-50 balls to start turning in his direction. The team’s second-leading receiver, Mike Evans, is 6-foot-5 and 231 pounds, making him a tough opponent in contested catches. Harbaugh said the Ravens know what they have to do to shut him down.

“You’re talking about one on one against Mike Evans — you have to do a good job at the line first of all, maintain position when he releases, because he’s so strong on the release, and then down the field be in position when the ball comes that way so you have a chance to make a play on the ball,” Harbaugh said. “You can’t play through the receiver, you can’t interfere with the receiver — all those different things. But you can be in position in that catch area in front of the receiver, near the receivers to play the ball and then try to play it well.”

Stephens and his teammates have to put that into practice, and hopefully the 50-50 plays tilt their way.

“Sometimes it just comes down to luck; sometimes things will go your way,” Hamilton said. “... And I feel like it’s up to us to limit the luck factor.”

Ravens reporter Jonas Shaffer contributed to this article.