The Ravens were busier than expected during Round 1 of last week’s draft, making not one but two selections. To acquire the second pick, of course, they honored Marquise Brown‘s trade request. That was the largest of a number of receiver departures this offseason, leaving many surprised the team didn’t draft a wideout at any point over the weekend.
When asked about that, general manager Eric DeCosta said, “it wasn’t for a lack of effort. I think, honestly, the fact that there was a run of receivers in the first round like there was … I wouldn’t say it was a great receiver class in general, compared to some of the years… There were some receivers that we liked; we tried to take a couple guys at different points… I said this last year, but we like our receivers.”
Baltimore’s WR room now consists of recent draftees Rashod Bateman, Devin Duvernay, James Proche and Tylan Wallace. DeCosta did say, though, that the team “will add players to the mix”, a process which will likely involve diving into the remaining free agent market.
Here are some more notes from around Charm City:
- Regarding DeCosta’s above remark about failing to land draft targets at WR, they were apparently one pick away from selecting Calvin Austin III, according to Peter King of FMIA. As he details, Baltimore was prepared to use pick No. 139 on the Memphis speedster, but the Steelers took him at 138. While they didn’t draft a wideout, the Ravens did add a pair of tight ends in the fourth round: Charlie Kolar and Isiah Likley.
- After the Ravens drafted safety Kyle Hamilton 14th overall, some have raised questions about Chuck Clark‘s future with the team. CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora writes that it’s “hard to see” Baltimore keeping the latter much longer, given Hamilton’s skillset and the recent trend of trading away valued players seeking new and/or larger roles.
- Another draft pick vaunted for its relative value was that of edge rusher David Ojabo in the second round. His reason for falling out of the first round – a torn Achilles suffered at his pro day – has many expecting the Michigan product to miss his entire rookie season. However, as ESPN’s Jamison Hensley writes, the team is “optimistic that at some point this year he’ll have a chance to play”, a sentiment which Ojabo himself also shares.
Chuck Clark makes sense to the eagles
it’s unlikely that he’ll be traded… he’s the one that runs the defense on the field… they’re more likely to run a lot of nickel and dime with three safety sets
crazy that hollywood, sammy watkins, and miles boykin leaving is stated as a “number of receivers” leaving like yeah technically it’s 3 but only one of them even played enough to matter
Yeah, and Boykin was actively cut loose.
He was third on the team in targets behind Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown. So two of your top 3 receivers leave…that’s pretty significant.
Bateman was third on the team in targets. Who are you talking about?
Shaft.
Right on
They were prepared to use 138 on the Memphis receiver. Unfortunately Pittsburgh took him a pick later.
Haha
pitt ruining things like always
Yeah, this doesn’t really make a lot of sense. The Ravens were going to get him with pick 138, but the Steelers snuck up on them at pick 139 and drafted him….so why didn’t they pick him at 138 then?
They doing it to limit Lamar production. They don’t wanna pay him.
I know a lot of people will blame the lack of receiver production on Lamar, and it is partially the fault of his skill set, but Baltimore also does not run the types of plays to allow him to open up the offense and develop those skills-or to allow the receivers to make the types of big plays that other teams would expect.
That offense was perfect in allowing Lamar to acclimate to the NFL, but it needs to open up to allow Jackson to develop to whatever degree that he ultimately will, and also to allow the receivers to make more plays on their end. If it doesn’t, Jackson will never develop further and the receivers will always unimportant in Baltimore.
Lamar hasn’t proven he’s good enough as a passer to open up the offense. The fact that they added no wide receivers and doubled up on TE’s, one of them being another Mark Andrews type, shows you where this offense is going.
If Baltimore is ever going to have a relevant offense again, they need to cut bait with Lamar and get an actual passer for the position.