Why haven’t the Ravens signed a veteran wide receiver yet?

Over two months after the Marquise Brown trade, the Baltimore Ravens have yet to sign a veteran wide receiver but they have good reasons to wait.

The Ravens continue to remain staunchly confident in their young albeit unproven wideout trio of Rashod Bateman, Devin Duvernay, and James Proche.

Whether that’s the product of blind faith or whether the front office truly believes in their talent, those three players will receive the opportunity of a lifetime to flourish under Lamar Jackson’s arm in 2022.

From the outside looking in, the Ravens’ wide receiver corps looks the worst it has been in recent years and is ranked 29th in the league per Pro Football Focus — the only reason Baltimore didn’t fall any lower is Mark Andrews’ pass-catching talent.

Yet there are two main reasons the Ravens haven’t pulled the trigger on a veteran talent. One, the free agent wide receiver market has been quiet for the last few months as no player is in particularly high demand.

Two, the Ravens currently don’t have the cap space to bring anyone on and will need to restructure contracts before doing so.

The Ravens are in no rush to sign a free agent wide receiver this offseason

The best remaining free agents at the position include Julio Jones, Will Fuller, T.Y. Hilton, and Odell Beckham Jr., all players we have previously written about as potential acquisitions.

While each of those players carries a significant amount of experience, not one of them could be considered a reliable solution to the Ravens’ perceived wideout problem.

Some are coming off serious injuries (OBJ, Fuller), some are way over the hill (Hilton, Sanders), and some are both recovering from injury and in the sunset of their careers.

It makes sense as to why the Ravens have been dragging their feet to bring on a veteran wideout, and barring a blockbuster trade, Baltimore may be resolute in sticking to the wide receivers it currently has.

It is, however, worth noting that wide receiver remains the only position of concern that Baltimore has not significantly upgraded this summer.

The Ravens improved their offensive line (Moses, Linderbaum, Faalele), defensive line (Pierce, Jones), cornerback unit (Armour-Davis, Williams), pass-rush (Houston, Ojabo), running back unit (Davis, Badie), and linebacker unit (Bynes was re-signed).

If the Ravens want to contend in the playoffs this season, it seems likely that the team will add at least one veteran to the wide receiver corps for depth if nothing else.

Still, you can expect the Ravens to stay almost too patient for the rest of the offseason. Change will come, but slowly.