Baltimore Ravens: Miles Boykin is being heavily slept on

Of all the off-season additions the Baltimore Ravens made in 2019, perhaps none were more overlooked than the addition of wide receiver Miles Boykin.

For years, the Baltimore Ravens have tried to find success at the wide receiver position via Free Agency and late round draft picks. The lack of success in first round wide receivers is the main cause for this, although we have hope for Marquise Brown to break the mold. Still, not many receivers Baltimore has gambled on have paid off, but that luck may change with Miles Boykin.

While the Ravens have undoubtedly wasted draft picks on players like Tommy Streeter and Aaron Mellette, they’ve also missed on more “quality” selections like Tandon Doss. Boykin will remind many of Doss, as far as good quality goes. However, in the case of Boykin Baltimore may finally find some success.

Something that the Ravens have tried to do recently when signing/drafting wide receivers is to find big-bodies to help in the red-zone. Jeremy Maclin and Michael Crabtree were brought in to not only be no.1 wide receivers, but also to provide a go-to guy to make plays and score touchdowns. Neither worked out whatsoever.

In Miles Boykin, the team has a potential answer to the big-body, red-zone threat they’ve been desperately searching for. During his senior season with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Boykin caught eight touchdowns as the team’s X-receiver. Boykin also showed off a savvy skill-set and the upside of being a consistently relied upon target for an ever-changing quarterback carousel that the Fighting Irish had.

ESPN’s Jamison Hensley about a month ago talked about Miles Boykin’s development into a strong player while dealing with consistent hand injuries, including broken fingers. With the development that Boykin has undergone during his time in South Bend, there’s real reason to believe that he could excel in a similar role for the Ravens.

Naturally, Miles Boykin’s name is hardly talked about by many, including Ravens Flock. I am entirely guilty of this as well, as the selection of Boykin was an unknown to many. That’s hard to believe considering the prestige that Notre Dame possesses. Even so, Boykin always flew under the radar during his college career. There’s a very strong chance that he will silence his doubters and drums up major hype in 2019.

First-year wide receivers typically struggle at the next level to produce from day one. While by no means are we insinuating that Miles Boykin will be a Pro Bowl type player in year one, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him splash and make waves as a rookie. With the underrated play-making ability that Boykin has, don’t be surprised if he puts together a rock-solid rookie year. Keep sleeping on Miles Boykin, everyone… it’ll make his coming out party that much sweeter.