Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta is preaching patience when it comes to filling out the team’s wide receiver corps and head coach John Harbaugh’s comments about what the team is looking for indicate that finding the right type of wideout is part of the issue for the team.
Harbaugh said that “a certain type of receiver” doesn’t want to play for a Ravens offense that figures to be heavy on the run game with Jackson at the controls. Wide receivers were targeted for passes 45 times in Jackson’s seven starts last season.
Harbaugh said he’s OK with not having any contact with those players. He said that the Ravens “want rough guys … tough guys” and made an argument for why such receivers could thrive in Baltimore.
“The counterargument I would make to the naysayers, because of the offense we’re going to run and the skills of the quarterback that we have, you’re going to get open. You’re going to be more wide open,” Harbaugh said, via ESPN.com. “And if you’re the kind of guy that wants to catch a ball and go run for a touchdown, if that’s something that appeals to you as a wide receiver, then maybe Baltimore is a place you want to think about. Because you’re going to have an opportunity to do that.”
Willie Snead and Chris Moore are the only receivers on the roster who caught passes last season. Jordan Lasley and Jaleel Scott were drafted last season, but never saw the field. That quartet will likely be joined by additions in this year’s draft as the team tries to find the rough and tough mix they’re looking for at wideout.