Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman didn’t need to see Rashod Bateman and Miles Boykin on Wednesday to know that they were practicing. He needed only to see the cameras on and the notebooks out at the Ravens’ practice fields.
Media, coaches, players — everyone around the team is trying to figure out how the wide receivers look after three weeks on injured reserve, when they might return and how they could fit in.
“We’re getting a feel for the new guys as we go, and I think, hopefully, we can develop a real good sense of what they do well and where they flourish,” Roman said Thursday. “I think that’s a process — that doesn’t just happen overnight. … It’s good to have some healthy guys back, and we look forward to adding them. We love who we’re going with right now, and I love their attitude. I think we’ll kind of grow with them throughout the season.”
That was the plan in training camp until injuries got in the way. Boykin, a two-year starter, hurt his hamstring in early August. Bateman, the Ravens’ No. 27 overall draft pick, went down a week later with a groin injury that required surgery. Both were activated from IR on Wednesday when they were full participants in practice.
It’s unclear whether both will make their 2021 debut Sunday in Denver against the undefeated Broncos — Boykin seems further along in his recovery — but their looming returns are significant. Here’s how they could change how the Ravens’ offense operates in the coming weeks.
From outside to inside
There are a lot of questions that Harbaugh doesn’t like. Among the most confounding: Why not just move Boykin to tight end?
“I try to put my arms around what that even means,” Harbaugh said in March, when asked — and not for the first time — whether it was a possibility. “Miles Boykin is a wide receiver; he is not a tight end. I wouldn’t put him in there as a tight end.”
At 220 pounds, Boykin is too light for both the in-line blocking duties that tight ends like Mark Andrews handle and the presnap “move” assignments that fullback Patrick Ricard gets. But Harbaugh has acknowledged that there is some overlap in the routes that tight ends and Boykin can run. Because of how often the Ravens bunch their receivers on one side of the formation, the roles of the team’s tight ends and slot receivers on some plays are interchangeable.
Boykin has primarily been an outside receiver in his two-plus years in Baltimore. But he saw more time inside last season, with promising results. He was targeted 13 times in the slot on his 79 routes run, according to Sports Info Solutions, catching 11 passes for 132 yards and three touchdowns. On the 162 other routes he ran, he had just seven catches on 19 targets for 119 yards and one score.
Boykin’s blocking ability fits the Ravens’ smash-mouth approach — Roman said he’s among the NFL’s most physical blockers at the position — and his deep speed could boost an already much-improved play-action attack. Roman pointed to the Ravens’ win over the Cowboys last season, when Boykin, lined up just a few yards wide of left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., got a free release on a run fake, cruised behind Dallas’ second-level defenders and scored on a 38-yard catch-and-run.
“He’s a big target going across the middle,” Roman said of the 6-foot-4 Boykin. “And he’s just lights-out as a blocker. So a big target, dependable blocker — dominating blocker, really — and that’s a good combination.”
Bateman’s benefits
Even after his forgettable Sunday, wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown is off to the best start of his career: 78.3 receiving yards per game, 15.7 yards per catch, 6.3 yards after the catch per reception, a 65.2% catch rate — all career highs if the season ended today.
With the addition of wide receiver Sammy Watkins, Brown has been freed up to line up in the slot more often. After a nearly even inside-outside split last season, he has run 57 routes from the slot and 26 on the outside this year, according to SIS.
Brown has been most productive inside, catching 11 of his 17 targets for 215 yards. Out wide, he has four receptions on five targets for just 20 yards, though two of his would-be deep catches against the Detroit Lions came after lining up on the outside.
Bateman’s arrival could benefit both Brown and Watkins. The Ravens’ top draft pick was productive wherever he lined up in Minnesota, though his near future is likely out wide. Bateman has noted his room for improvement as a blocker — a weakness that’s often magnified inside — and his biggest play of training camp, a long touchdown catch on a vertical route against star cornerback Marlon Humphrey, came as an outside receiver.
If Bateman can stay healthy and flash the form he showed during offseason workouts, the trickle-down effects on the Ravens’ offense could be profound. Watkins’ snaps could be more carefully managed. Brown’s slot usage (and perhaps effectiveness) could go up. And the ramped-up competition at wide receiver could foster even greater improvement.
“We feel great about what we’ve seen,” Roman said of Bateman. “We’re going to kind of get a feel and a sense as we go with what he does really well and how we can apply him. But it certainly gives us opportunities to basically just take Rashod’s ability and put it to use, really. So we’ll see how that goes. Certainly, yesterday was his first day back, and we’re excited about that. But from what we’ve seen, I think good things are going to happen there.”
Depth chart dilemma
The most obvious consequence of the Ravens’ improved health at wide receiver is that, eventually, some roles will have to be reduced.
Through three weeks, all five active wide receivers have appeared on offense: Watkins (85.2% of the snaps), Brown (69.8%), Devin Duvernay (54%), James Proche II (12.4%) and Tylan Wallace (0.1%). The return of Bateman and Boykin could force tough decisions at the bottom of the depth chart, though.
Wallace has been a regular special teams contributor in his rookie season (57 snaps), but he’s played just one offensive snap. Proche, meanwhile, has one catch for 29 yards and has played more offensive snaps (25) than special teams snaps (21). Duvernay’s recent problems at punt returner with ball security have raised questions about whether Proche will retake his starting role, but special teams coordinator Chris Horton has expressed confidence in Duvernay.
Duvernay’s role on offense fluctuated last year, too. In one stretch, he went from playing 44 snaps in Week 12 to just nine in Week 13, then back up to 23 in Week 15. His playing time has been more consistent to start this season, and his field-stretching speed can help soften defenses in zone coverage. But Duvernay has just three catches for 28 yards and a touchdown.
Despite the Ravens’ run-first reputation, they lined up with three-plus receivers on over half of their snaps last season, according to Sharp Football Stats. Their reliance on “11″ personnel (one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers) will likely climb as the receiver position stabilizes. That should mean more opportunities for more players. The competition for them is only getting fiercer.
Week 4
RAVENS@BRONCOS
Sunday, 4:25 p.m.
Line: Broncos by 1
