Ravens shouldn’t avoid veteran receivers because of Michael Crabtree mistake

The Ravens may have made a mistake with Michael Crabtree, but they shouldn’t be hesitant to sign veteran wide receivers because of it:

Without free agency the Baltimore Ravens would have had very little positive history at the wide receiver position. If there is one thing that rarely happened in Baltimore under Ozzie Newsome’s watch, it was drafting of quality receiving talent. It didn’t happen much with Brian Billick on the sidelines or in the ongoing John Harbaugh era. The Ravens have been historically gun-shy when it comes to receivers in the NFL Draft. If they stop looking at on veteran wide receivers, they’ll never find enough talent to put around Lamar Jackson.

Derrick Mason, Anqaun Boldin and Steve Smith Sr. are easily the best three players the Ravens have ever had at this position. It is a formula that works for them. While the Ravens have to draft young receiving talent, they need at least one more veteran wide receiver than they have. Jackson needs to develop as a passer, so the Ravens need someone who can contribute right away.

This has been a problem for receivers in the recent draft classes. There are examples of superstars clicking early (Odell Beckham Jr., Mike Evans) however there are far more examples of players that have been struggling to live up to their first round selection. The Ravens saw this first hand when they took Breshad Perriman in 2015.

Corey Davis ended up being a good player for the Tennessee Titans, but after a slow start. The Bengals are still waiting for the return from their investment in Jon Ross and Corey Coleman fizzled out for the Browns.  I can name off a bunch of players here, the point is that instant stars are hard to get out of the NFL Draft for the receiver position.

Baltimore could focus on the wide receiver position in free agency because it is one of the biggest needs for the roster. The Ravens don’t have much at the position so combining a savvy signing with a good draft pick is the optimal solution.

The irresponsible, knee jerk reaction to the Ravens departure of Crabtree is that the Ravens need to stop going after older receiving talent. The actual lesson, as I made the main point of a previous post, is that they need to target the right players in free agency. Crabtree was a mistake because he didn’t solve a problem. It’s 2019 and the team is still looking for the same thing. The responsible course of action is to find the player or players that actually fix the problem.

Unless the Eric DeCosta becomes a receiver selecting guru, the Ravens should keep turning to free agency to fix this problem.