The Baltimore Ravens need wide receiver help, but the signing of Seth Roberts could indicate the team will address the position later in the 2019 NFL Draft.
How much faith should you have in a wide receiver core that features Willie Snead, Chris Moore, and Seth Roberts at the top? Not much, unfortunately… However, right now this how the Baltimore Ravens wide receiver depth chart currently shakes up, as well as second-year guys Jaleel Scott and Jordan Lasley.
Of the three aforementioned receivers, being Snead, Moore, and Roberts, they combined for just 126 receptions, 1,341 receiving yards and four touchdowns in 2018. If you didn’t think that was bad enough, more than half of the receptions and receiving yards (62/651) came from Snead alone. To say the current wide receiver situation isn’t ideal would be putting it lightly.
However, because of the Snead and Moore’s “veteran presence” as well as the recent signing of Roberts, it is now extremely likely that the Ravens elect to pass on a wide receiver early in the 2019 NFL Draft. And not just until day two, as it could once again end up being a scenario where the team addresses the position in early day three of the draft.
Sure, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the wide receiver class has solid depth and Baltimore does have other pressing needs, but this is the same predicament that has constantly let the Ravens down. Passing on top-tier receivers and gambling on guys in the later rounds has burned the team too many times, and blaming their reserved drafting on the failures of Breshad Perriman and others is lazy.
The Ravens have taken three cracks at the bat in drafting wide receivers in the first round since coming into inception in 1996, and all of them busted. That sucks, but that’s not nearly enough tries. Baltimore has had 24 first round picks since 1996, with the most (six) being spent on defensive backs. The Ravens spending three picks on receiver may still be 12.5% of their first round picks, but they’ve spent the same amount of capital on quarterback, while also spending four picks on offensive linemen and two picks on tight ends.
Yeah, that’s right, the Baltimore Ravens have only used one more first round pick on wide receivers than tight ends.
Meanwhile, the Ravens haven’t shown any kind of knack for hitting on wide receivers in the later rounds of the draft. Despite plenty of investment in later rounds, especially day three choices, Baltimore still fails to find wide receivers in the draft. It’s so much harder to get hits in the later rounds than it is in round one, yet that hasn’t stopped the Ravens from straying off this path of failure.
To put a bow on all of this, the bottom line here is that the Baltimore Ravens absolutely cannot pass on a talented wide receiver early, should one be available. If N’Keal Harry or A.J. Brown or even D.K. Metcalf are sitting there on the board with the 22nd pick, don’t overthink it… The team’s reluctancy to draft wide receivers has plagued them and its fan base, while also hampering its offense. This trend has to change, Eric DeCosta. Break the mold of the old Ravens and bring them into a new age; take the talented wide receiver and don’t look back.