The Baltimore Ravens made their roster cuts on Tuesday and then built most of their practice squad on Wednesday, pending some final touches by virtue of playing some magic tricks involving injured/rehabbing players.
Most of the transactions have already been completed, though, and the Ravens ultimately decided to name six and not just five wideouts into their initial 53-man roster.
The five main starters at the position were always clear, but there were doubts about the sixth member of the group and even a veteran special-teams maven making the cut or not.
With the dust now settled, here's a breakdown of the starters and depth members of the Wide Receivers unit of the Baltimore Ravens for the 2023 season.
Ravens WR Depth Chart
Starters: Rashod Bateman, Odell Beckham, Zay Flowers
See, the Cincinnati Bengals and their fans are going to come to you angry and shouting that they boast the best pass-catching corps in the NFL, let alone the AFC, don't even mind the North division.
Don't fall for that.
The Ravens are freaking loaded at the wide receiver position following the transactions and the shrewd moves they completed this offseason.
- The Ravens got the ball rolling by signing a Super Bowl champion in Odell Beckham Jr.
- The Ravens kept on going by using a first-round draft pick in another stud wideout and ROY-favorite Zay Flowers.
- The Ravens, finally, added some nice touches to their unit by getting veteran Nelson Agholor in tow, another former first-round pick.
Now, to that, you have to add the actual no. 1 wide receiver of the team in Rashod Bateman, who should be ready to go in Week 1 after recovering from a 2022 season-ending injury.
Now, go and tell them Bengals who rules the wide receiver position.
Depth: Devin Duvernay, Nelson Agholor, Tylan Wallace
Of course, the starters of the Ravens at the wideout and slot positions have nothing to do with the bench/rotation/depth players at the position.
That's logical, reasonable, and something to expect basically because we're talking about a limited pool of people inhabiting a world in which 32 franchises fight to the death to find the best-talented performers across the globe.
The alternatives to the starters are a special-teams phenom and multi-time Pro Bowler at the position in Devin Duvernay, uber-veteran and former first-round pick Nelson Agholor, and cornerback-killer Tylan Wallace after he beat all other players at the position in the race to earn the WR6 role for the 2023 season.
The Ravens could start the season with Duvernay and eventually move on from him as his salary is a bit high (over $4 million) while not guaranteed for someone with his limited role, though the special-team skill set might save him from getting cut/traded.
Baltimore has put together the best-receiving unit in their Lamar Jackson era and all members of the WR room should be in prime position to excel with new offensive coordinator and back-to-back NCAA champ at Georgia Todd Monken crafting the playbook.
Time to get excited, folks.