The Ravens have agreed to terms with free agent wideout John Brown, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Baltimore was reportedly in advanced talks with Brown, a former Arizona Cardinal, as of earlier today.
Brown will receive a one-year deal, per Adam Caplan of SiriusXM (Twitter links). The base value of his new contract is $5MM, but he’ll have the chance to max out at $6.5MM via incentives.
Baltimore is in dire need of wide receivers, as Mike Wallace is a free agent while fellow veteran Jeremy Maclin has been mentioned as a candidate for release. With limited cap space, however, the Ravens were forced to sit and watch as top-tier pass-catchers such as Allen Robinson, Sammy Watkins, and Marqise Lee came off the board.
Brown is coming off the worst season of his NFL tenure, as injuries limited him to just ten games. During that time, Brown managed only 21 receptions for 299 yards and two scores. As recently as 2015, however, the now 27-year-old Brown put up 65 catches for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns, and he’s reportedly healthy.
Heading into free agency, PFR ranked Brown as the 10th-best available wide receiver. He reportedly generated interest from at least seven clubs before inking his pact with the Ravens.
We are 1 to 2 season away from blowing this team up and I can’t wait.
Unfortunately, we don’t need a full rebuild. We just need a way to get out from Flacco – his contract has held us back so much.
If we had more cap flexibility the past few years, we wouldn’t have all these restructures that are limiting us now.
That said, I don’t feel terrible about adding brown, especially given the circumstances. I just don’t trust Flacco to play to his strengths or throw him anything beyond 7 yards. Captain Checkdown can’t be counted on.
Too bad you don’t understand football.
I understand plenty – that Flacco has held our team back ever since he signed that extension.
Agreed. Flacco got hot at the perfect time and hasn’t done anything since.
You have to give the man weapons. I agree that the contract wasn’t great, but I think he’s a good qb that needs some continuity on offense. I think this new qb coach will help. Remember the kubiak year? Flacco has proven he has skills. I hope he can stay healthy.
Hope they didn’t over pay. Would have been just as smart to resign Wallace and keep Maclin. I don’t see how he’s a major upgrade to the WR position.
They love scraping the reject pile
I wouldn’t put John Brown in the “reject pile.” He was a really good WR2 alongside Fitzgerald and only saw his numbers go down because of injury and Arizona adding more WRs.