Three Veteran WR Options The Ravens Should Consider As Injuries Mount

The Baltimore Ravens made it to mid-September without signing some 35-year-old receiver and delaying his retirement.

Will they make it to October?

And with a shortage already developing at wide receiver, a position that was not deep or fertile to begin with, should they be looking for something a little bit different this time if they have to make an addition? It seems like longtime coach John Harbaugh may have been the guy with the deepest aging receiver fetish (and Odell Beckham making his Giants roster perhaps speaks to that), but there are several options out there if a move is made.

Head coach Jesse Minter didn’t sound like he felt the need to pounce right now. While he did concede Monday “there’s potential for that,” in terms of making an outside signing, he also talked up the internal options and they have steered clear of the old dudes pretty steadfast to this point. Devontez Walker (groin) could play this week and Elijah Sarratt (fourth-round pick) was a healthy scratch.

The Ravens are not committing to a timetable for rookie Ja’Kobi Lane (wrist) yet but he is going to miss many weeks. They are taking a “day-today” approach with Zay Flowers’s lingering hamstring situation, but this early in the season it might make sense to back off him for a week, just to be safe, as Minter hinted at, too.

“You want to make sure it is not something you are dealing with for 17, 18 weeks,” Minter said, which seemed quite telling. And given how ridiculously impactful Flowers was Sunday while running just 11 routes (this is pretty bonkers), and knowing the lack of other proven game breakers in this passing attack, the Ravens will be careful.

All of which is to say, by the time they leave for Brazil in a few weeks I have a hard time thinking there is not at least a veteran receiver with an NFL pedigree on their practice squad. Here are three that they’ll almost certainly consider at some point in time, some sooner than others. (PSA: I don’t want anything to do with Tyreek Hill in my locker room. But as for other options Brandin Cooks always seems to have one more big game in him and he was once a favorite of Sean Payton and Declan Doyle runs a Payton offense):

DeAndre Hopkins

He was effective when he saw the ball last year, but he didn’t see it enough. Things were not always great with him and offensive coordinator Todd Monken, but that’s not a problem anymore! He has strong hands and loves compete for contested catches and both he and Lamar Jackson likely feel there is some unfinished business between them.

Jackson mentioned him several times when praising Lane’s aggression attacking the football. Some of Hopkins downfield metrics last season were better than starting receiver Rashod Bateman. This team had major redzone issues last season; that’s been an area of expertise for him.

Darius Slayton

He quickly fell out of favor with Harbaugh in New York, he has a surgical procedure in the spring and, with him set to make $13M this season, whatever his price point ends up being it’s probably a little steep for what the Ravens are looking for. But he was a productive receiver for the Giants for quite a while and has 22 career TDs and had a better resume and pedigree than most of what is out there, and unlike a lot of other guys, he was in an NFL facility and training camp, getting regular work.

He’s 29 and drops have been a problem, but he’s been good for about 500 yards a season and some TDs.

Gabe Davis

This guy has always looked like a Ravens WR to me.

They lost a lot of size in Lane (6-foot-4) and Davis is 6-2, 225. He played in Buffalo for years and had a descent connection for a while with Josh Allen, who tends to do a ton off script and being able to win in the scramble drill and adjust to that is a big deal. Then he spent time in Jacksonville with another QB who uses his legs and can improvise on the run, in Trevor Lawrence, and then went back to Buffalo.

He got his one big free-agent bite at the apple, he works cheap and he’s only 27. He’s physical, he understands ground-based teams and blocking downfield. He’s actually a younger, better, more dynamic version of Chris Moore, who was recently signed and performed quite well Sunday. And, well he’s coming off an ACL injury in the Wild Card, his second knee issue. But these guys signed Ethan Pocic coming off Achilles to make sure they got him (and I suspect he is starting at center by next month), and keeping close tabs on Davis makes sense

The Bills will likely want him back, but he is someone who could make something happen in the second half and for the playoff run if WR becomes the problem I could see it becoming.

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