Marlon Humphrey

Overview

Marlon Humphrey is an American professional football cornerback who has spent his entire NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens after they selected him 16th overall in the 2017 draft, and who became a four-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro — while also appearing, in November 2021, among the athlete backers of trading-card platform Alt’s $75 million Series B round (Baltimore Ravens; TechCrunch).

This profile covers that dual identity — the Hoover, Alabama, product who won a national championship at the University of Alabama before becoming a one-club Raven, and the athlete-investor whose name sits alongside Tom Brady, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Alex Morgan and Candace Parker on Alt’s Series B cap table (Alabama Athletics; TechCrunch).

From Hoover to Alabama

Humphrey’s hometown is Hoover, Alabama, where he starred at Hoover High School in both football and track (Alabama Athletics). Hoover went 30-0 across his junior and senior seasons, winning back-to-back Alabama 6A State Championships, and Humphrey himself was a consensus five-star cornerback, a first-team All-USA selection by USA Today, and the 2013 Birmingham News Metro Boys Track Athlete of the Year, with seven Alabama state championship event titles across the indoor and outdoor track seasons in 2013 (Alabama Athletics). He also won the 110-metre hurdles and the 400-metre hurdles at the 2013 World Youth Track & Field Trials (Alabama Athletics).

The sporting pedigree ran in the family: his father Bobby Humphrey was a first-team All-America running back for the Crimson Tide in 1986 and 1987, a first-round NFL draft selection in 1989 who played for the Denver Broncos — including a 1990 Pro Bowl selection — and then for the Miami Dolphins in 1992, while his mother Barbara (May) Humphrey set the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s still-standing outdoor 400-metre record of 53.30 seconds (Alabama Athletics). Marlon chose Alabama over Florida State, also considering UCLA and Mississippi State (Alabama Athletics).

After redshirting in 2014, Humphrey started at cornerback for Alabama in 2015, totalling 45 tackles, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and eight pass breakups in 15 starts, with his three interceptions ranking second on the team (Alabama Athletics). His signature college moment came in the national championship game against Clemson, when he caught Adam Griffith’s perfectly placed onside kick in the fourth quarter to help Alabama regain possession and momentum on the way to the school’s record 16th national championship (Alabama Athletics). In 2016 he earned first-team All-America recognition from the Football Writers Association of America, started 14 games, and opened the season with a pick-six against USC (Alabama Athletics).

A one-club Raven: breakout, extension and resurgence

Baltimore selected Humphrey with the 16th pick in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft, praising his size, 4.41-second 40-yard dash, physicality and tenacity in press coverage; over his two starting seasons at Alabama he had made 81 tackles, five interceptions and 13 pass breakups (Baltimore Ravens). He was the first Alabama prospect off the board in that draft (Baltimore Ravens).

His breakout came in 2019, when he earned his first Pro Bowl appearance with 65 tackles, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries (PressBox). The season was defined by game-changing plays: punching the ball out of JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hand in overtime at Pittsburgh to set up a game-winning field goal, returning a fumble for a touchdown at Seattle, and blocking a San Francisco field-goal attempt in a 20–17 Ravens win (PressBox). He was also named All-Pro in 2019 (Sports Illustrated).

On 1 October 2020 the Ravens announced a five-year extension that, according to NFL Network reporting carried by PressBox, was worth $97.5 million with $66 million guaranteed and kept Humphrey under contract through 2026; general manager Eric DeCosta called him “a stalwart in our community” as well as a playmaking corner (PressBox). That season he led the league — and set a team record — with eight forced fumbles, tied for the second-most by a defensive back in a single season, alongside 11 passes defended and 2.5 sacks (Sports Illustrated). His third Pro Bowl honour followed the 2022 season, in which he recorded three interceptions, three sacks and two fumble recoveries, becoming the first cornerback in Ravens franchise history to record multiple sacks, interceptions and fumble recoveries in a single season (Baltimore Ravens).

After an injury-disrupted period, Humphrey’s 2024 season was a resurgence: named first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press for the second time, this time as a slot corner after his 2019 honour as an outside corner, he finished tied for third in the NFL with a career-high six interceptions (Baltimore Ravens). Several came at decisive moments — a fourth-quarter interception against Cincinnati in Week 5 that set up a late game-tying field goal before an overtime win, an end-zone interception against Tampa Bay in Week 7 that turned momentum, and a fourth-quarter pick-six against Pittsburgh in Week 16 that helped secure a 34–17 win (Baltimore Ravens). The season totals — 67 tackles, 15 passes defended, six interceptions including his first NFL pick-six, and two forced fumbles, with a 60.9 passer rating allowed when targeted — also brought his fourth Pro Bowl selection (Sports Illustrated).

The Alt investment

Humphrey’s business profile rests on a single, well-documented deal rather than a portfolio of ventures. In November 2021, Alt — then a marketplace for researching, trading and vaulting graded trading cards — raised a $75 million Series B led by Spearhead at a valuation the company put at over $325 million (TechCrunch). TechCrunch named Humphrey among the individual athlete investors in the round, alongside Tom Brady, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Alex Morgan and Candace Parker, with Seven Seven Six, Vibe Capital, Breyer Capital, Shrug Capital, Apollo Projects, Hyperguap and A* also backing it (TechCrunch). The Sports Business Journal and Front Office Sports independently reported the same round and the same athlete list including Humphrey (Sports Business Journal; Front Office Sports).

The investment fits the platform’s pitch at the time: cards had to be graded by PSA, BGS or SGC, then were stored in Alt’s temperature- and light-controlled “Vault”, with ownership transferable instantly between buyers and Alt taking a 1.5% cut on each sale; by November 2021 users had stored over $70 million of cards there, and Alt was expanding from sports cards into first-edition Charizards and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards (TechCrunch). For Humphrey, the deal is best read as an athlete backing a culture-and-finance crossover — the same framing Alt’s founder used for the round — rather than as evidence of any operating role at the company, for which no source read provides support (TechCrunch).

What this profile does not claim

• It does not state Humphrey’s individual Alt investment amount or stake: three outlets confirm he backed the $75 million Series B, but none discloses what he personally put in.
• It does not reconcile the extension’s reported value: PressBox, citing NFL Network at signing, reports $97.5 million with $66 million guaranteed, while a later Sports Illustrated piece describes a five-year, $98.75 million extension. The at-signing figure is used in the body and the discrepancy is flagged here rather than silently resolved.
• It does not state a height: the Ravens draft article lists 6-foot-0 and the Alabama roster lists 6-1.
• It does not state a birth date, net worth, or any specific foundation or community programme: none was verified from a fully-read source in this pass, and aggregator figures were deliberately not used.
• It does not claim anything about seasons after 2024, or about any operating role at Alt: the latest dated milestones are the 2024 honours and the March 2025 contract restructure, and no source read supports an Alt operating role.
• It does not claim Humphrey’s investment was his only business activity — only that it is the one verified from fully-read independent sources here.