The Ravens are preparing for Lamar Jackson’s first full season as a starting quarterback and they’ve talked about rebuilding the offense from the ground up in order to best take advantage of his skills.
They’ve also talked about Jackson taking strides as a passer after he completed 58.2 percent of his passes in seven regular season starts last season. So far, their plan for reaching those goals has not included a move for a wide receiver.
Michael Crabtree was released and John Brown signed with the Bills as a free agent, which leaves Willie Snead and Chris Moore as the only receivers on the roster who have caught NFL passes. When asked about the group on Monday, General Manager Eric DeCosta said that there’s still time in the offseason to bring in players.
“I think patience,” DeCosta said, via ESPN.com. “We did not look at free agency as really a great way to address the wide receiver position this year. Last year, we thought it made a lot of sense. There were a lot of receivers in free agency last year. It didn’t make as much sense for us this year. We look at the draft as an opportunity to do that. We also still think that there maybe some players that might be interesting to us at a later date, that are on the market, that might become available, that could help our football team.”
This is DeCosta’s first offseason since taking over for Ozzie Newsome and his ability to land a receiver that can help the Ravens offense leap forward with Jackson will be a big part of how his first year on the job is evaluated.