The Wide Receivers Room

General manager Eric DeCosta joked about how the Ravens did not urgently need a wide receiver in the weeks leading up to the draft.

Then, suddenly, that situation changed.

After the Ravens traded Marquise Brown to the Arizona Cardinals, there was more room for a playmaking wideout.

DeCosa shifted gears and set his sights on Calvin Austin III of Memphis in the fourth round, but the Steelers grabbed him with the 138th pick. DeCosta selected a second tight end, Isaiah Likely, with the next pick.

It was a class of wide receivers that were so talented that many of them went in the first round. The Ravens stuck to their philosophy of taking the “best player available,” and this meant selecting other position players that were higher on their draft board.

“I think, honestly, the fact that there was a run of receivers in the first round like there was … I wouldn’t say it was a great receiver class in general, compared to some of the years,” Ravens DeCosta said. “There were very good players at the top. So, for us, it was a good draft, and there were really good players at other positions. There were some receivers that we liked; we tried to take a couple of guys at different points. But, again, one of the phenomenon’s that we’ve seen is that those receivers get picked really, really early now. Similar to corner, they just fly off the board – in some cases, maybe a round to a round and a half earlier than you’d expect.

“I said this last year, but we like our receivers, we do. We’ve seen growth, we’ve seen our guys mature and develop.”

The Ravens are bullish on their young group of wide receivers on the current roster, headlined by Rashod Bateman, a first-round pick last year. Bateman has shown potential to be a No. 1 wide receiver if he can stay healthy.

The Ravens also have Devin Duvernay, James Proche, and Tylan Wallace looking to play a bigger part in the offense. Those players will get an opportunity to shine throughout the OTAs and training camp. If there are concerns about their production, look for DeCosta to bring in a veteran playmaker either as a free agent or via a trade.

“We took ‘Bate’ [Rashod Bateman] last year; he was our first-round guy, and I think he’s going to show you why,” DeCosta said. “Devin, we have a theory that guys that end up playing on special teams and being really good special teams players end up being really good position players. We think Devin is a great young player. We took Tylan last year, and kind of the same thing. He’s a young player and we were very excited to get him last year. He’s a guy last year that we got in the fourth round, that we probably would have taken a round and a half earlier last year. Then we have James, and James made a jump last year and made some critical plays in games.

“So, we like our group. We will add players to the mix. We’re doing that right now, and we’ll look at veteran players as well. It wasn’t really by design that we wanted to create a hole on the team. I don’t look at it that way, but in this business, you pivot, you dodge, you weave – you’re always really going to be chasing a need.”

The Ravens also reportedly signed several undrafted wide receivers, including Makai Polk (Mississippi State), Slade Bolden (Alabama), Trevon Clark (California), Emeka Emezie (North Carolina State), and Devon Williams (Oregon). They’ll all compete to add depth.

Wide receiver will certainly be one of the team’s most scrutinized positions over the coming months.

The post The Wide Receivers Room appeared first on Russell Street Report.