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He's no longer the 21-year-old kid who started all 16 games for the Redskins his rookie season.
He's not quite the same player who grabbed 10 interceptions in 2006, a total which led the league that year.
At 32 years old, Champ Bailey might have lost half a step, and he might not be as durable as he was his first six years in the league when he didn't miss a game. But the Broncos' nine-time Pro Bowl cornerback is still one of the more feared defenders in the league, and he's a guy that opposing teams, including the Ravens, have to account for.
"Champ Bailey's been good for so long, and you see him out there and it never changes," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. "It's 24 - he's playing at a high level again. I see his technique as being even better than what it's been before. Maybe that's just [because] a guy like him just continues to keep improving. And that's what makes him so good."
Bailey's 12-year NFL career has been remarkable in that he really hasn't showed a drop-off in his ability to shut down some of the league's top wide receivers.
He held Jacksonville's Mike Sims-Walker without a catch in the Broncos' Week 1 loss to the Jaguars, and kept the explosive Reggie Wayne in check in Week 3, holding the Colts' top wideout to four catches for 65 yards.
On Sunday, Bailey will likely spend much of the game lining up across from Anquan Boldin, the Ravens' wide receiver who has 355 receiving yards and three touchdowns through four games. The pressure will be on Boldin and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who coached against Bailey when he was a coordinator for the Chargers, to find a way to beat the veteran cornerback.
"The age thing, I've never seen that from him," Cameron said. "He's just always played solid. He's always been good. Obviously, he's been in that division for a long time. I've gone against him a lot, [and I have] tremendous respect. He understands the game."
If the Broncos' other starting corner, Andre' Goodman, can't play this Sunday because of a quad injury (Denver listed Goodman as questionable), the Ravens will have a bit of an edge.
But Cameron said that the Broncos can do a lot of things in their secondary with Bailey and veteran safety Brian Dawkins, which will make it tough for quarterback Joe Flacco to just attack one side of the field.
"They're very similar to Pittsburgh in the respect that they've got a lot of veteran players, and it's hard to get veteran players on scheme, because they've kind of seen pretty much everything people do," Cameron said. "So, they've matched [Bailey] to some games, they've played him to our right in some games, they've moved him down the slot some games. You've got to come out and figure out what their plan is with him, and I'm sure they'll mix it up against us. But he's playing extremely well."
