The NFL Draft has officially ended and a couple of teams have stood out, including the Ravens and Jets. However, as a Ravens fan, saying that about Baltimore is never surprising. The Ravens have had an incredible draft history. In fact, they’ve even done well recently as well. The Ravens have selected Ryan Jensen, C.J. Mosley, Z’Darius Smith, Darren Waller and Lamar Jackson since 2013, only 2 of those players being drafted in the 1st round and 2 of them in the 6th round. The Ravens had another good draft. Mel Kiper’s Mock Draft on March 1st had Kyle Hamilton going 4th, Tyler Linderbaum going 10th and David Ojabo going 16th and the Ravens got them at #14, #25 and #46 respectively.
However, despite a good draft, the Ravens gave up Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to get that 23rd pick (which they traded for the 25th pick), where they took Linderbaum. While it seemed good to have that extra 1st round pick in the moment, the Ravens currently don’t have any wide receiver depth or star power, as Rashod Bateman is now the Ravens top WR. Even though the Ravens have Mark Andrews at tight end, that is not enough receiving power for Lamar Jackson to succeed. How are the Ravens going to gain that WR and give Lamar some help?
- Trade for one
The Ravens, now that the draft is over, are probably not willing to give up too many young assets in exchange for a receiver. The only 2 very good receivers on the trade market are DK Metcalf and Deebo Samuel. What are the actual chances that the Ravens get one of those receivers though? Well, I have orquestrated a trade for Metcalf that would make sense (according to Fanspo NFL Trade Machine), using what we saw it took for the Cardinals to get Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and what the Eagles gave up to get A.J. Brown. Not for Samuel though since the 49ers would have to give up a lot due to cap space purposes and the Ravens aren’t willing to give up that much for San Francisco’s cap space purposes.
Ravens get:
DK Metcalf
2024 4th Round Pick
Seahawks get:
Chuck Clark
2023 1st Round Pick
2025 5th Round Pick
I think this trade would make perfect sense for both teams. After the Russell Wilson trade, the Seahawks are officially going into rebuild mode and they can get some assets for a receiver that will probably demand a trade once the team starts losing. The Seahawks also give up Metcalf since he is on an expiring contract and during a rebuild, Seattle would not be willing to pay Metcalf the money he wants. The Seahawks take on Clark since he’s a 26 year old safety with upside that can step in on some safety blitz’s and play if Jamal Adams gets hurt (which is expected due to his track record).
The Ravens do this deal to get to the receiver they desperately need. They give up Chuck Clark since they have Brandon Stephens, Marcus Williams, Kyle Hamilton and Tony Jefferson III playing nearly the same role and they don’t need another safety. They also give up a 1st round pick to get that talent of Metcalf and a 5th round pick, kind of like how the Eagles gave up a 3rd round pick along with their 1st for A.J. Brown.
2. Sign a receiver
This is always an option owners would like to avoid! Jokes aside, it might actually be the most likely move if the Seahawks want to hold onto Metcalf during this rebuilding process. So, who’s in the market. They let Sammy Watkins go to Green Bay so the Ravens can’t get him back. The best WR’s available are Julio Jones, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr., Emmanuel Sanders, Will Fuller, Albert Wilson, Mohamed Sanu and Marquise Goodwin. There are others like TY Hilton, Cole Beasley and DeShaun Jackson but I don’t expect Baltimore to sign one of them since they will ask for a very heavy contract. Now, obviously Jones is the best player there but he might not be the best pickup.
I think the Ravens are most likely to sign a veteran to a 1 year, $1-5 million dollar deal, what Watkins signed with Baltimore last season. I would personally stay away from Julio Jones because he has regressed dramatically and is now injury prone. Jarvis Landry could be an option but he is probably going to want a very heavy contract. Odell Beckham Jr., could be an option, after he signed a cheap contract in LA and proved to be a receiver that can win a championship. While they should sign someone better, Emmanuel Sanders is a very cheap option and can gain yards when the Ravens need him to at 35 years of age.
I would expect Baltimore to sign Beckham Jr., or Sanders to get another good receiver next to Rashod Bateman, if the Ravens look to gain their receiver in the free agency market. While this would not be a huge, impactful move, I would recommend the Ravens signing Chris Moore since he’s a WR that has played with Baltimore before and can play some snaps as the 4th receiver.
3. Don’t do either
While it’s a silly option to think about, the Ravens may do neither. While I do think Bateman will progress into a Pro Bowl receiver, I don’t think he will do that in 2022. As a Ravens fan, I know they have to get somebody if they want to keep Lamar Jackson happy. But, there is a possibility they go into next season with the team they got. They may see something in Rashod Bateman that we don’t know about? Maybe they think Mark Andrews is the true receiver that Lamar needs? Maybe they’ll use the running backs more in the receiving game? While I don’t expect the Ravens to go in this direction, it’s definitely a possibility.
Whatever they do, I trust that the Ravens are going to make the right franchise move with the reputation and the standard of how they’ve done in the past. However, it’s interesting to think about who Lamar is going to throw the ball to in 2022!
Chase Coburn
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