Ravens Miss Out on Another WR as Golladay Signs With Giants

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens were expected to be a player in the free-agent market to land a wide receiver.

However, the team is empty-handed so far as the marquee names signed with other teams.

The latest player to sign a huge contract is Kenny Golladay, who reached a four-year, $72 million deal with the New York Giants, according to multiple reports.

The #Giants lock in a No. 1 WR in Kenny Golladay, paying him $18M a year to do it. The #Bears came on strong with a significant push, essentially a recruiting effort. But Golladay wanted the Giants and the two sides worked the last 24 hours to close the deal.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 20, 2021

There was talk the Ravens reached out to Golladay earlier this week, but his price tag was apparently too hefty for the team.

Kenny Golladay is signing with the Giants as @JosinaAnderson reported. Very tepid market, and no offense he was dying to play in. Bears and Bengals were other options. Ravens were never in it. Money was nowhere close to original expectations
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 20, 2021

Baltimore also contacted JuJu Smith-Schuster, who turned down its $9.5 million offer to stay in Pittsburgh for $8 million.

The Ravens could possibly make a move to sign Sammy Watkins to boost a passing attack that ranked last in the NFL last season.

Watkins was a highly-touted player from Clemson and was the fourth overall pick by the Buffalo Bills in the 2014 draft. He also spent one season with the Rams (2017) before signing with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Over 86 career games, Watkins has caught 321 passes for 4,665 yards with 33 touchdowns. He'll turn 28 on June 14 so he has plenty of solid football ahead of him. Watkins has the speed to get behind secondaries and does an effective job gaining yards after a reception

However, Watkins has dealt with injuries throughout his career. This past season, he missed six games with a calf injury. Over his career, Watkins has missed 26 games because of injuries and played in all 16 games just once — his rookie year in Buffalo.

This past season, he finished with 37 receptions on 55 targets for 421 yards and two touchdowns over 10 games. Watkins has also been prone to some drops over the past couple of seasons.

Watkins would be affordable at about $10 million per season. However, at this point, the Ravens could just set their sights on the draft to add a playmaking wide receiver.