There are plenty of NFL players who hand off contract negotiations to their agents. They don’t get too involved in the process until the contract is sitting in front of them and someone hands them a pen.

Not Kyle Hamilton. It’s hard to imagine Baltimore’s All-Pro safety ever making a hasty, ill-informed decision.

On the day the 24-year-old signed a record-setting, nine-figure contract with the Ravens, he described following along as his agents traded emails with his team. Although Hamilton was careful to limit his disclosures, it’s reasonable to assume that included in the back-and-forth were some blunt assessments of his shortcomings or market value from Ravens management.

Not every NFL player can handle that. But Hamilton can.

“Reading those emails, sometimes that might be like triggering to somebody, but I honestly respected it,” Hamilton said. “They were very well-written emails, even a little humor in it. Made it enjoyable for both sides.”

Added Hamilton: “If I ever wanted to be a GM one day — which I don’t foresee for myself right now — but it’s kind of a cool little tidbit.”

Who says he couldn’t be a GM one day? Who says Kyle Hamilton can’t do anything?

Sometimes it feels like Hamilton — who once tested into Mensa and received exemplary scores in predraft mental acuity tests — would be of greater use trying to cure some virulent disease or studying rocketry than destroying opposing offenses on the football field. But the consensus that has emerged in the last three years is that, whatever the 6-foot-4 safety puts his mind to, he can be one of the best at it.

The proof is in the paycheck. The Ravens don’t make rash contract decisions. They paid him like the NFL’s best safety because he is the NFL’s best safety — the defensive player who gives them the best chance in the next few years of finally winning another Super Bowl.

Hamilton glowingly lauded how Lamar Jackson’s MVP-caliber campaigns always put the Ravens in the mix for a championship.

“We got [No.] 8, we got a chance,” Hamilton said. “We can put whoever around him. I think we go as he goes.”

Same goes for No. 14.

In Hamilton, the Ravens have luxuriated in someone who can play all over the field. He gives the defense a wild-card feeling of unpredictability, capable of sticking back in coverage and breaking up passes, or collecting sacks with a surprise rush. He might be best as a nickel, but last year when the Ravens’ deep safety position was a mess, Hamilton moved to stop the bleeding.

In Pro Football Focus’ position grades last season, he was the only safety to rate at least an 88 in coverage, run defense and pass rushing — he has no glaring deficiencies.

The most promising thing about Hamilton, however, might be the intellect that got him through three years at Notre Dame and has shortened his learning curve to becoming one of the NFL’s most respected defenders after just three seasons. He approaches his role with the preparation and thoughtfulness of someone much more mature than his early 20s, which is why many — the Ravens included — believe he can be one of Baltimore’s all-time greats.

In the franchise of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, that’s reeeeeeally saying something.

“I think the deal really does speak to how we feel about Kyle, the highest-paid safety in the NFL,” general manager Eric DeCosta said. “That’s a responsibility that we don’t take lightly. … I think, when you are the highest paid, that’s an important distinction. And I think Kyle has proven that he’s going to carry that very well.”

Who was one of the other Ravens who (at the time of his deal) became the highest-paid player at his position? Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. Whenever the Ravens finally re-extend him, he’ll likely be at the top of the market again.

I’d bet Jackson can beat Hamilton in a footrace, and Hamilton could probably run Jackson off the table in a game of poker (if teammates’ tales are to be believed). But what they have in common is what this franchise talks about a lot: They’re force multipliers. They make the talent around them more than the sum of its parts.

Jackson’s presence makes the Ravens automatically a top-five rushing offense, and his ability to create backbreaking plays on the fly leaves opponents flustered. Hamilton’s power is in his versatility, solving problems for the defense by playing whatever role is needed in the next season, in the next game, on the next snap.

Even though the Ravens face great salary cap uncertainty past the 2025 season, the alchemy between Jackson and Hamilton feels like it adds up to a Super Bowl in the near future. The units Baltimore can field around each of these backbones of the franchise should always give them a chance to win it all.

Hamilton said he doesn’t consider himself in the Ravens’ defensive pantheon. “I’m lucky to be in the same breath as them — me personally, I don’t think I’m even close to there yet.”

Aside from defining how their positions were played, Lewis and Reed won championships. It’s no surprise that Hamilton — who has never met a goal he wasn’t willing to chase down — said he can set his focus again to a Lombardi Trophy. His new deal puts the Ravens in tremendous position to reach it.

“You check a lot of boxes off throughout your football career, and not to toot my own horn, I feel like I’ve checked a good bit ever since high school,” he said. “The Super Bowl is yet to be checked. That’s the next one I want to check off.”

With Hamilton in the fold for almost the rest of the decade, it’s hard to imagine Baltimore won’t check it off soon.