Ravens Were Top Team For WR DeAndre Hopkins

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is the new big man in town in Baltimore, and he seems to be echoing sentiments heard last year from Derrick Henry from whenever he was the big, new thing. 11 months ago, Henry told the media that “Baltimore was always (his) No. 1 option.” This week, Hopkins took a page out of Henry’s book, saying that “the Ravens were (the) top team on his list,” per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic.

Hopkins cites the presence of two-time MVP Lamar Jackson as one of the main reasons for his desires to play in Baltimore. It’s something we’ve seen a number of offensive acquisitions say over the years, which says a lot considering wide receivers don’t typically boast big seasons in Baltimore due to Jackson’s ability to spread the ball out effectively throughout the offense.

Baltimore has a history of its best wide receivers being veteran free agent additions. The franchise leader in receiving yards, Derrick Mason, came to Baltimore at 31 years old after eight seasons in Tennessee. Anquan Boldin came to the Ravens at 30 years old after seven seasons in Arizona and helped deliver a second Super Bowl to Baltimore alongside contributions from another veteran free agent in the late Jacoby Jones, who joined the team at 28.

Despite spending 13 years of his career in Carolina, Steve Smith Sr. came to Baltimore at 35 years old and delivered three incredibly strong seasons. Even Mike Wallace delivered one of the three 1,000-yard seasons of his career in Baltimore after signing with the team at 30.

Baltimore has also, unfortunately, garnered a reputation as a wide receiver graveyard, a place in which aged wideouts go to die (or at least their careers do). We saw it in 2017 when a 29-year-old Jeremy Maclin delivered a career-low receiving yard total in what would be his final NFL season. Or the next year, when a 31-year-old Michael Crabtree logged a solid but overall underwhelming performance in Jackson’s rookie campaign.

A 32-year-old Dez Bryant attempted to make a comeback in Baltimore after two years away from the league, only to catch six passes for 47 yards in 2020. Most recently, a 31-year-old Odell Beckham Jr. attempted the same with better results, though still not up to the standard of his early years in the league.

At 32 years old, it will be interesting to see which side of history Hopkins falls on. 12 years with four teams may have worn Hopkins down like the second group of receivers mentioned above. He hasn’t earned Pro Bowl or All-Pro honors since his first season in Arizona in 2020, but he did deliver a 1,000-yard campaign just two years ago in Tennessee at the hands of Will Levis and Ryan Tannehill.

While Ravens receivers don’t tend to put up huge numbers — only Mark Andrews (1,361), Zay Flowers (1,059), and Marquise Brown (1,008) have delivered 1,000-yard seasons in Jackson’s tenure — Hopkins still has potential to make a lasting impact with the Ravens.

Jackson returns a backfield that features the bell-cow Henry, the versatile Justice Hill, and the speedy Keaton Mitchell, as well as a tight ends stable that should feature Andrews, Isaiah Likely, and Charlie Kolar. He will likely see Nelson Agholor depart in free agency, but replacing him with Hopkins, who will line up with Flowers and Rashod Bateman, gives the Ravens one of the most impressive wide receivers groups they’ve had in their short history.

It will just depend on if Hopkins is willing to find his role among the litany of offensive options and if Hopkins can bring a veteran energy akin to Mason/Boldin/Smith/Wallace versus that of Maclin/Crabtree/Bryant/Beckham.