Which Ravens Wide Receivers will make the final cut in 2019?

The Baltimore Ravens will be heading into training camp in roughly 20 days with some new pieces at wide receiver. Who will make the final roster? 

As the Ravens are set to begin training camp on July 25,2019 much of what the 2019 roster will look like is already known. Offensively we know that Lamar Jackson will be embarking on his first full season as the starting Quarterback for the purple and black.

Mark Ingram, Gus Edwards, and rookie Justice Hill are set to pace a running game that projects to be among the NFL’S best. Mark Andrews, Hayden Hurst, and Nick Boyle form arguably the NFL’S best tight end group top to bottom. Andrews is looking to build off of his monster rookie season and Hurst will be looking to bounce back from an underwhelming rookie year. Boyle is the best blocking tight end in the NFL.

The offensive line will have some position battles in camp but there are currently three locks in Ronnie Stanley at left tackle, Marshal Yanda at right guard, and Orlando Brown Jr at right tackle. LG will feature a competition between Ben Powers, James Hurst, and Alex Lewis, while center figures to be a battle between Matt Skura and Bradley Bozeman.

Defensively, the Ravens will look to continue their dominance and look to maintain last season’s number one overall ranking. While the names and faces have changed again, defense always prospers in Baltimore.

The biggest position of uncertainty on Balitimore’s entire roster is once again at the wide receiver position. This has been a consistent problem over the years for the Ravens and this coming season remains no different. The Ravens return Willie Snead and Chris Moore from their wide receiver group last season. Jordan Lasley and JaLeel Scott will enter the fray after both failing to make an impact in their rookie seasons.

The biggest offseason addition to the group was Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. The Ravens first-round pick out of Oklahoma is recovering from a Lisfranc injury and hoping to be ready for the start of training camp. The Ravens also added Miles Boykin in third round of the draft as well and he will look to make an impact in his rookie season. Seth Roberts and Michael Floyd were brought in via free agency and Jaylen Smith, Antoine Wesley, and Sean Modster were undrafted rookie free agent signings. Quincy Adeboyejo will also return from injury this season.

So in what appears to be a crowded room let’s sort the through the mess here. Snead, Moore, Boykin, and Brown are locks to make the 53 man roster. The only reason this wouldn’t be the case is one of them were to suffer an injury in training camp and or Brown not being able to recover from the Lisfranc in time for the start of the season. The Ravens have had issues getting first round pick wide receivers on the field in the past (Ghost Perriman) so hopefully Brown is able to reverse that trend and remove the seed of concern/doubt for Ravens fans.

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The other spots are really difficult to project at this point. The Ravens gave Roberts a deal worth $2 million with $1 million guaranteed.  He received a $300k signing bonus and $700k salary guarantee. Along with Willie Snead he also has five seasons of NFL experience as well and is second in the group in total catches behind Snead. Gotta figure he makes this team on experience alone.

So that’s five. How many are the Ravens going to keep? They kept six last season and five the season prior. I think they keep six this year and the last spot honestly could go to any of the guys prior mentioned but let’s do process of elimination. Floyd to me is the first to go. Least money/draft capital committed at this point. Unless he flashes in camp he’s out.

Adeboyejo goes next as he has never really been able to make an impact in his time in Baltimore whether it be injury/performance based. Modster had a great mini-camp but it would be hard for me to see him making this team without a great camp so we’ll count him out. Jaylen Smith knows Lamar Jackson from college but he didn’t flash in minicamp and has too many issues with his hands to be in the final 53.

That leaves us with Wesley, Scott, and Lasley. Lamar Jackson and Lasley have spent a ton of time together this offseason publicly working out and trying to build chemistry. Scott is the higher of the two draft picks between he and Lasley, but Scott really hasn’t seemed to make any impact to date in either his first season or his second offseason. Maybe Scott sneaks back to the practice squad, but I don’t see him earning his way onto this team. Scott is also coming off of a hamstring injury from last season.

So we’re down to Wesley or Lasley.  Wesley caught 88 balls for 1,410 yards and nine touchdowns last season for the Red Raiders at Texas Tech. He has “automatic hands” and “elite ball skills” according to Lance Zierlein, the NFL analyst who broke down his draft/combine profile. You will see in that projection that he can’t run. The Ravens have Hollywood Brown and Miles Boykin in the passing game that can run just fine.

I don’t think the Ravens can/will keep seven wide receivers.  Especially given their abnormal depth in the secondary.  Roster spots will be at a premium for this wide receiver group as there are six guys competing for two likely spots. I think the Ravens may lean Lasley for their final spot here. It might be tough for them to part ways with a fifth round pick in his second season and maybe they don’t.

But if it were my choice, I’d keep Wesley as the sixth wide receivers for this team. The combination of his sure hands, route running, and ball skills are appealing for me when we discuss wide receivers that will best help Lamar Jackson to be successful.