If there’s one flaw the Baltimore Ravens have had since their inception in 1996, it’s finding quality wide receivers. That’s not to say Baltimore has never had any quality receivers—they certainly have.
From Michael Jackson to Derrick Alexander and then Derrick Mason, Anquan Boldin and Steve Smith Sr., the Ravens have had some good targets in their history.
But at the same time, Baltimore hasn’t had a wideout with 1,200 receiving yards since 1996, which is the longest active drought of its kind in the NFL.
Wide receiver has always been a position the Ravens tried to address in free agency rather than in the draft, where the team has historically whiffed at the position. Even then, it’s hard to miss at the position when you don’t take any shots, as the team has seldom sprung for high-profile receiving prospects.
Since 1996, here are the following receivers Baltimore has drafted within the first two rounds.
- 1998 Patrick Johnson (second round pick)
- 2000 Travis Taylor (first round pick)
- 2005 Mark Clayton (first round pick)
- 2011 Torrey Smith (second round pick)
- 2015 Breshad Perriman (first round pick)
That’s it. That’s the list. Among these five receivers, none of them caught 70 receptions in a season for the Ravens. Not to mention, only one receiver surpassed the century mark in receiving for Baltimore — Smith in 2013 when he posted 1,128 yards.
Baltimore historically hasn’t been aggressive in drafting wide receivers and it has showed on the field. But Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta knows that he needs to change that.
“I think one of the biggest things that we have to do is just get some at bats and swing,” DeCosta said during the team’s pre-draft presser on Tuesday. “It’s hard to be a .400 hitter if you’re only going to bat twice. So, we’ve got to take some chances.”
“We’ve got to find to find some guys that we like. We’ve gotta appreciate the really good football players, the guys that make plays. Receivers come in all shapes and sizes.”
Baltimore certainly has to take chances. The Ravens did not do a good job of surrounding their former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Joe Flacco with weapons at receiver from 2013 through 2018. If Baltimore did that, maybe Flacco would still be a Raven today. Had Flacco had half-decent receiving options, the narrative surrounding him could have be entirely different.
Nonetheless, that’s in the past. The present — and future — for Baltimore is second-year quarterback Lamar Jackson. It’s on the team to not make Jackson do more with less, as they did with Flacco for so many seasons. That starts with taking a shot on a few wide receivers in the draft.
