During the 2022 NFL season, the Baltimore Ravens experienced a substantial wide receiver setback with Rashod Bateman. He went down with season-ending surgery after only eight games despite making serious noise during Baltimore’s week one 24-9 victory over the New York Jets.
The other notable Ravens wide receivers caught with the injury bug included return specialist Devin Duvernay and Tylan Wallace.
Key Losses: Additionally, the Ravens lost Demarcus Robinson to the Los Angeles Rams via Free Agency and released Sammy Watkins during the offseason.
Ravens WR Rashod Bateman (7) – Jim McIssac/Getty Images
Key Returners and new additions: With 2022 on the back burner, the 2023 new-look Baltimore Ravens will potentially have one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses this coming season with talent like Rashod Bateman, newly acquired Odell Beckham Jr., newly drafted Zay Flowers, and recently signed Nelson Agholor working with Lamar Jackson and new offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
OBJ was acquired via free agency on a one-year $18 million deal over a week before the Ravens re-signed Lamar Jackson to his historic contract. OBJ brings a strong superstar presence the wide receiver core lacked last year, as well as championship experience catching deep passes from Jackson.
Another Super Bowl championship-experienced wide receiver suiting up in the purple and black is Nelson Agholor who won a Super Bowl Championship with the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2017 season. Although he isn’t a Pro Bowl wide receiver like OBJ, he brings veteran experience to a young and growing wide receiver core. As of this article, Agholor has scored 31 touchdowns in his career. Agholor’s highest scoring seasons came in both 2017 with the Eagles and in 2020 when he was with the Las Vegas Raiders with eight touchdowns a piece.
The Ravens have also signed veteran Laquon Treadwell during the offseason, helping to round out the wide receiver core with a strong veteran presence.
How the new wide receivers will help the offense in 2023: With OBJ, Treadwell, and Agholor joining the Ravens for the 2023 campaign, it drastically improves the wide receiver position on paper. Tight end Mark Andrews led the Ravens in receptions last year with 73 receptions for 847 yards and scored five touchdowns. The wide receiver that had the most receiving yards for the Ravens last year was Demarcus Robinson with 48 receptions for 458 yards and scored two touchdowns. Now the focus will shift to OBJ and the rest of the new receivers to fill the gap left with Robinson’s move to the Rams.
OBJ is the most talented wide receiver the Ravens have ever signed since the team signed Steve Smith Sr. back in 2014. OBJ has earned himself three Pro Bowl appearances with the New York Giants as well as a Super Bowl championship with the Los Angeles Rams back in 2021. When Smith joined the Ravens in 2014, he appeared in five Pro Bowls and Super Bowl 33 with the Carolina Panthers during his NFL career. The comparisons are hard to miss.
Agholor adds more championship experience as he was on the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles team that won Super Bowl LII 41-33 against the New England Patriots. During that season, Agholor caught 62 receptions for 768 yards and scored eight touchdowns.
With that championship experience, OBJ and Agholor bring to the Ravens, as well as having a new offense by Todd Monken (who helped the Georgia Bulldogs win two back-to-back College Football National Championship games: 2021 and 2022 respectively) – hope is high in Baltimore. This Ravens team has a ton of potential to make it to the AFC Championship game for the first time since the 2012 season and potentially their first Super Bowl appearance since the 2012 season.
Monken has worked with OBJ before when he was the offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns back in 2019, but that season ended up a disaster for the Browns as they finished the 2019 season with a 6-10 record at the time. More on this later. Monken also worked with big-name wide receivers such as Mike Evans during his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jarvis Landry with the Browns in 2019.
Wide Receiver Struggles to Expect: Star power isn’t everything. After the 2019 season, OBJ struggled with the Browns in 2020 when he caught 23 receptions for 319 yards and scored three touchdowns before his season ended with a torn ACL. When OBJ played in Super Bowl LVI, he suffered another ACL tear which cost him a chance to play during the 2022 NFL season.
No risk – no reward: An NFL player who has had a history of injuries can be a sign of disaster for any team. Signing OBJ could be a massive risk for the Ravens.
Rashod Bateman, who was drafted by the Ravens in 2021, has had injuries follow him during his rookie and sophomore campaigns. Bateman can potentially have a breakout season if he doesn’t suffer any serious injury during the 2023 season.
Agholor isn’t a Pro Bowl-talented wide receiver by any stretch. He hasn’t had a 1,000-receiving-yard season in his NFL career. The closest Agholor had to a 1,000-yard reception season was in 2020 with the Las Vegas Raiders where he caught 48 receptions for 896 yards and scored eight touchdowns.
Offensive Coordinator Monken lasted one season as offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns before joining the Georgia Bulldogs in 2020. Granted he helped the Bulldogs win back-to-back College Football Championships. The NFL is not the same as college ball. You have the best-of-the-best talent competing against each other on a near-weekly basis. One bad offensive look can linger for weeks to come.
To note: The Ravens have never drafted a wide receiver that made it to the Pro Bowl. Even the Ravens have had big-name receivers such as Anquon Boldin, Steve Smith Sr., and Derrick Mason to name a few big-name wide receivers that also never saw a Pro Bowl appearance during their time in the Charm City.
Yes, Devin Duvernay has made two Pro Bowl appearances, but he is mainly a return specialist.
Ravens WR Devin Duvernay (13) – G Fiume/Getty Images
Overall: Despite the potential struggles, the Ravens are still looking to make the playoffs for the second straight season as well as potentially recapture the AFC North Crown for the first time since the 2019 season when Lamar Jackson won the AP NFL MVP award.
Odell looks like he can potentially have a bounceback year after not signing with any club in the 2022 season. The Ravens will be looking for a breakout year from third-year receiver Bateman.
Duvernay will continue to improve as a return specialist and wide receiver combo for the team as well as bounce back from a broken foot he suffered in 2022.
The road to victory is there. Baltimore will continue to map out that road in order to compete with the defending conference champion Cincinnati Bengals.
The excitement should be building around Charm City with the explosiveness the Ravens will bring in 2023!
