Ravens' WR outlook puts Rashod Bateman in position for the bounce back he needs

Rashod Bateman can’t put up another goose egg. He had his moments without the ball in his hands in Week 1, but with the direction the Baltimore Ravens’ wide receiver room is headed in, they may need Bateman more than ever in Week 2.

The Ravens will be without Ja’Kobi Lane due to a fractured wrist, and Zay Flowers also injured his hamstring against the Indianapolis Colts. While Flowers’ injury is considered day-to-day, it’s an issue he’s been dealing with since training camp.

It may be wise for Baltimore to take some pressure off Flowers’ legs and make Bateman a focal point of the offense.

And after a dismal 2025 campaign, Bateman really needs to find a rhythm again. He’s a lethal route runner and poses a real problem as a deep threat—it’s time for him to get back into that mode against the New Orleans Saints.

Baltimore Ravens will need more from Rashod Bateman in Week 2

Let’s get one thing straight: sometimes numbers don’t tell the whole story. While Bateman didn’t tally a reception in the season opener, he made his presence felt in other ways.

Specifically, Bateman was a shining star as a blocker. The Ravens had countless explosive plays against Indianapolis, and it was Bateman’s dependability as a blocker that made many of those possible.

Just check him out paving the road on Derrick Henry’s 32-yard scamper to the end zone last week.

Jesse Minter made sure to shout that out in the postgame press conference, too.

Still, Bateman might be in a spot where the numbers in the receiving department need to start coming. He was already the WR2, but with Ja’Kobi Lane hitting IR, he’ll get even more looks. Heck, he might even be the WR1 at times, depending on how Zay Flowers is feeling on game day.

If that's the case, it certainly helps knowing Lamar Jackson has full confidence in Bateman in the coming weeks.

"[Bateman's] actually gonna get a lot more targets, I believe," Jackson said. "Bate played great [in Week 1], besides him not getting the ball...Sometimes in certain games, you might not get any targets, but you can help your team win in different areas."

Week 2 will be the perfect moment for Bateman to seize the spotlight. It goes beyond just having plenty of targets on the table for him to take. It’s this new, and very clearly improved offense.

Baltimore’s passing attack went for 304 yards in Week 1. Whatever Declan Doyle is doing is working perfectly, and this past offseason, he prioritized putting guys in position to succeed. Bateman was one of those guys.

After a forgettable 2025 season, Bateman has said he was used as a bit of a one-trick pony. He was the team’s primary deep threat. Unfortunately, he was kind of used as that and that only.

Bateman’s 2025 target share was very predictable. 46.1% of his targets came on either go or hitch routes. He rarely had a chance to dominate crossing the middle of the field, an area he actually looked dynamic in earlier in his NFL career.

That’ll hopefully change this year. Bateman said he’s been used in a variety of ways in Doyle’s new system, and maybe things will start to take center stage against the Saints.

The question has never been if Bateman can separate—he can do that as well as any wide receiver in the league. It’s just a matter of the targets coming his way. Looking at where the Ravens are, they should be coming in Week 2.

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