Ravens Biggest Need: Lamar Jackson Speed Weapons at WR

Baltimore's wide receivers scored just seven touchdowns in 17 games. Lamar Jackson needs help, making receiver the Ravens' No. 1 priority.
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OWINGS MILLS, Md. — One of the Baltimore Ravens' biggest priorities this offseason should be adding a wide receiver that can routinely get behind a secondary and consistently create matchup problems for opponents.

Speed - that was an area where the team struggled last year. 

Baltimore's wide receivers scored just seven touchdowns in 17 games. Demarcus Robinson led the wide receivers with 48 receptions for just 458 yards and two touchdowns. 

"The one area that needs to be built is the wide receiver room, so that will be a new room, basically," coach John Harbaugh said. 

"There will be pieces of it still there – you know the guys – and then we’ll be adding a lot of pieces to that room, and there [will] be competition, too. So, that’ll be the room that will start together in this new offense, and we’ll build with those guys."

Season-ending injuries to Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay certainly hampered the production of the wideouts.

The Lamar Jackson-led Ravens tended to lean too heavily on tight end Mark Andrews, who dealt with double teams over the second half of the season.  

Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta is going to look at every avenue — free agency, trade market, and the draft — to boost the production of the wide receivers in 2023. 

The Ravens can't afford to botch this opportunity. 

"We had some injuries, obviously, with ‘Bate’ and with Devin," DeCosta said. 

"We traded ‘Hollywood’ [Marquise Brown] last year, so we definitely took on some water this year at that position. We’ll continue to look at that via free agency and the Draft. Our role is really to just find the best guys that fit our situation." 

And to add speed. Quickly.


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Todd Karpovich
TODD KARPOVICH

Twitter: @toddkarpovich Email: todd.karpovich@gmail.com Skype: todd.karpovich Todd Karpovich has been a contributor for ESPN, Forbes, the Associated Press, Lindy's, and The Baltimore Sun, among other media outlets nationwide. He is the co-author of “If These Walls Could Talk: Stories from the Baltimore Ravens Sideline, Locker Room, and Press Box,” “Skipper Supreme: Buck Showalter and the Baltimore Orioles,” and the author of “Manchester United (Europe's Best Soccer Clubs).” Karpovich, a Baltimore native, is a graduate of Calvert Hall College high school, Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, and has a Masters of Science from Towson University.