The Baltimore Ravens continue to add wide receiver talent around Lamar Jackson when the team took Notre Dame’s Miles Boykin with the 93rd overall pick.
The Baltimore Ravens weren’t done adding wide receivers via the 2019 NFL Draft after taking Marquise Brown in the first round. On Friday night, the Ravens selected another wide receiver, Notre Dame’s Miles Boykin, in the third round. With Brown and Boykin now on the roster, the wide receiving core is starting to improve.
When comparing the two receivers, they couldn’t be more different. Brown’s game is based around is smaller stature and unreal speed, while Boykin uses his big-bodied frame (6’4″ 220-lbs.) to pull down contested balls. Despite underwhelming quarterback play during his time with the Fighting Irish, Boykin still showed greatness when given the opportunity.
For Boykin, he gives Lamar Jackson exactly what he needs: a big receiver with a large catch radius. I’ve been preaching all off-season that Baltimore needed to add a larger target outside for Jackson to get comfortable with. When you have a quarterback like Jackson who struggles with accuracy, the best thing you can do for him is to go out and get him someone who can go up and get it. The Ravens did just that.
Baltimore does possess another big-bodied receiver on the roster currently in Jaleel Scott, but him being a non-factor in 2018 didn’t help his case. As of now, Miles Boykin will likely find himself as the fifth wide receiver after Brown, Willie Snead, Chris Moore, and Seth Roberts. However, Boykin could climb past all but Brown on the depth chart because of his upside and the other’s underwhelming presence.
The Baltimore Ravens biggest job this off-season was to surround Lamar Jackson with talent for him to progress; something the team failed to do with Joe Flacco. Clearly, the front office, more specifically Eric DeCosta, have recognized the team’s failures in the past and are doing everything they can to amend those mistakes and move forward. Thus far, they’ve done just that, and drafting Miles Boykin is another positive step in the right direction.