Mailbag: Will the Ravens Pursue a Veteran Wide Receiver?
Mink: The Ravens have several free agent wide receivers, meaning they’ll sort out their depth behind Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman this offseason. There will be an intriguing competition for the No. 3 wide receiver spot.
Part of the answer will be Devontez Walker, who has the talent to be a bigger contributor in Year 2 after a rookie season that featured one impressive touchdown catch. The Ravens also re-signed Malik Cunningham, Keith Kirkwood, Anthony Miller, and Dayton Wade to reserve/future contracts, but there’s no doubt that Baltimore will make more wide receiver additions this offseason.
With 11 picks, I expect the Ravens to draft at least one wide receiver. Even so, I also think Baltimore will add a veteran free agent. That could be re-signing one of their own free agents, or it could be bringing in new blood. Either way, I don’t expect Baltimore to spend significant salary cap space to do it.
The ideal candidate would be somebody who has been effective and efficient with their offensive opportunities, because there probably wouldn’t be a ton of them in Baltimore barring injuries, and has punt return experience. The Ravens inked Deonte Harty last offseason, who fit that description. I could see a similar move this offseason, while also continuing to take more shots in the draft. I broke down some of the available free agent options this week here.
Brown: With 11 picks, I don’t expect the Ravens to be aggressive early in free agency. General Manager Eric DeCosta echoed that sentiment at the Combine last week.
“You guys know the Ravens – right player, right price. We don’t have a lot of cap room,” DeCosta said. “We’re not a team that’s going to make a lot of splashes, generally speaking.”
Adding a key veteran in July or August is often the Ravens’ approach. In 2023, Jadeveon Clowney signed in August and Kyle Van Noy signed in September. They helped Baltimore reach the AFC Championship game that year, making a bigger impact for the Ravens than many NFL free agents who signed bigger contracts in March.
Once the draft is over, the Ravens will assess what holes need to be filled, then try to add a veteran who’s still unsigned. That method of operation has worked well for them.
Mink: The Ravens stick to their best-player-available approach (within reason). They aren’t going to draft a first-round quarterback, for example. Inside linebacker isn’t high on the priority list this offseason, but it’s not unthinkable that they could pick one early considering that Roquan Smith, Trenton Simpson, and William Kwenkeu are the only three inside linebackers under contract. Malik Harrison, Chris Board, and Kristian Welch are all pending free agents.
The player that could be tempting is Alabama’s Jihaad Campbell, who NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has at No. 12 on his big board. Campbell had a strong Combine that could keep him out of the Ravens’ range, but if he were to slip to 27 because inside linebacker isn’t seen as a premier position, he may be too talented to pass up.
Campbell told reporters at the Combine that one of his favorite things to do is drop into coverage, and he was effective doing so in college. He can also rush off the edge, giving him alluring position flexibility. I still like Simpson’s chances of becoming a very good player and think Baltimore could re-sign some combination of its veteran free agent linebackers. But if the Ravens feel like Campbell is a difference-maker who could make an elite pairing with Smith, they could take that shot.