Football continues to creep closer and closer as teams prepare for training camp. With the 2020 NFL regular season on the horizon, it has all of us here at Ravens Wire getting excited for football to return to our lives. With the season on our minds, we sat down and discussed which Baltimore Ravens players we’re most pumped to see when everyone hits the field again.
Though we all chose different players and with different reasons in mind, all of us chose young players that should be stepping up in 2020. Nearly all of us chose offensive players, which is fitting with the continued evolution of Baltimore’s offense and the development of quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Let’s get right into who we picked and why.
Matthew Stevens: WR Miles Boykin
I’m most excited to see Boykin this year, especially in training camp where he’ll be given more opportunities to showcase his talents. But from training camp through the preseason and into the regular season, I think Boykin could be an underrated breakout character for the Ravens.
With Seth Roberts leaving in free agency, Boykin is being set up to be Baltimore’s primary outside receiver as a counterpoint to Marquise Brown. While all the attention is rightfully on Brown thanks to his athleticism and speed, Boykin has plenty of speed himself as well as being a big-bodied target that should dominate in contested catches and the red zone as long as he puts it all together. While we might not see as many 80-plus yard receptions where Boykin just leaves everyone in the dust compared to Brown, he has the skillset to get open and punish would-be tacklers en route to big gains.
We saw some flashes of what Boykin can do last season. While comparisons are always tricky, Boykin has the makings of an Anquan Boldin type of player in the Ravens’ offense. It’s an underrated part of the Ravens’ offense right now but just like we saw with Boldin in town, it’s one that will help keep drives alive. For an offense that led the league in points scored last season, Boykin’s transformation into a solid outside receiver could make them practically undefendable.
Alex Bente: Marquise “Hollywood” Brown
When the Ravens took Brown in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, they were looking to finally shake off the bad juju of their previous first-round receiver choices. And all of that negative energy felt nearly extinguished after Brown’s incredible first regular-season game against the Miami Dolphins — 147 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.
Even though Brown was hampered by injury throughout his freshman season, we were given a decent sampling of his blistering speed, sure hands, and clutch playmaking ability — a jackpot combination that Baltimore had never quite landed on when rolling the proverbial dice with a first-round pick.
So Brown — who many consider undersized and not quite dominating enough to be a true WR1 — certainly has the potential to be the top guy in Baltimore. Seeing him fully healthy and having a proper off-season to further gel with quarterback Lamar Jackson (no matter how restricted it might be under current circumstances) should give the Ravens a much better understanding of their sophomore speedster. And if the flashes of brilliance we saw in 2019 were a mere trailer to this “Hollywood Blockbuster,” then 2020 will be a must-see, for sure.
Kevin Oestreicher: S DeShon Elliot
I’ve been a fan of Deshon Elliot ever since his days at the University of Texas and knew that when Baltimore drafted him in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft they got a steal. However, his NFL career has been marred by injuries that have kept him from the field.
Elliot has only played a total of six games over his two seasons in the league, but if he can stay fully healthy in 2020, he’s in line for a big role. The Ravens planned to use him in tandem with fellow safety Chuck Clark after Tony Jefferson went down with an injury, but that dream lasted just one game.
He’s a ball-hawking safety with very good instincts and can lay the boom on run plays. He flies to the ball and the ball seems to find him wherever he is on the field. Baltimore can use him in multiple ways, whether it be playing back deep or putting him in the box. He’s extremely versatile and his playstyle fits what the Ravens want to do on defense.I expect Elliot to be a big part of what Baltimore does on defense in 2020. He has plenty of talent, he just hasn’t been able to show it yet.
Neil Dutton: WR Devin Duvernay
Rookie wide receivers don’t always make a big splash in the NFL, but Devin Duvernay could be an exception.
The Ravens offense just keeps getting faster, and there are few faster than Duvernay. He clocked in at 4.39-seconds running the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine.
While he seems set to spend the bulk of his time in the slot, Duvernay believes he has the skills to play all over the formation. But the slot has proven to be a productive position for the Lamar Jackson Ravens. 19 of his 36 passing touchdowns went to players who lined up inside in 2019.
Pairing Duvernay with Marquise Brown, no slouch himself with his blazing speed, gives the Ravens two legitimate burners. And in the modern NFL, speed still kills.
