Baltimore Ravens should still address wide receiver early in 2020 NFL Draft
Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta sees late value at wide receiver in the 2020 NFL Draft and, while he’s right, the team should target one earlier.
On the whole, there is undoubtedly nothing wrong with the Baltimore Ravens offense. As Lamar Jackson cruised to winning NFL MVP last season, the Ravens boasted the best offense in the league. But while that may be so, the need for upgrades was obvious in their disappointing Divisional Round loss to Tennessee. Wide receiver is one area that has been brought into focus.
While the Ravens do have other needs, specifically at linebacker with C.J. Mosley‘s 2019 offseason departure and at guard with Marshal Yanda‘s retirement this offseason, wide receiver is a clear area this team needs to focus. Even after taking Marquise Brown in the first round of last year’s draft, two of Baltimore’s three leading receivers in 2019 were tight ends, sandwiching Brown’s production.
The notion of Baltimore taking a wide receiver has been widely discussed, particularly early on in the 2020 NFL Draft. However, with what general manager Eric DeCosta is saying, he may not be thinking in those terms. When talking to reporters this week, per NFL.com, the GM had this to say about the 2020 draft class at wide receiver:
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"“We think this year that there’s a really good chance to get a guy that can probably be a starter for you in the fifth round of the draft.”"
DeCosta isn’t wrong. The 2020 NFL Draft features perhaps an all-time great group of wide receiver, that is heavy at the top and deep into the later rounds. There is a close-to-100 percent chance that a team, maybe even the Ravens, could get a viable starter in the fifth round. But why would DeCosta and Baltimore take that chance given their need.
Sitting at the No. 28 pick in the first round of the draft — and after taking Hollywood Brown last year — it’s unlikely the Ravens would target a wide receiver on Day 1, especially since the top-tier players will have been off the board. Having said that, when it comes back around and they are on the board with the No. 60 pick, that’s when things could get interesting for Baltimore and when they should start thinking about wide receivers.
Not only will the Ravens likely have the opportunity to take valuable and high-upside prospects such as Donovan Peoples-Jones and Chase Claypool, among others, at that spot, but those players have a much higher chance of becoming starters than late-round fliers. In the simplest terms, that’s why they’re valued as top-75 players as opposed to top-200 prospects.
Throughout his time under Ozzie Newsome and in his brief time as the GM, DeCosta has seen some tremendous draft hauls for the Ravens. But at the same time, when it comes to addressing a primary need, the longer a team waits to do so, no matter their track record, the riskier of a proposition in becomes.
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Subsequently, it would be foolish for the Baltimore Ravens to not use a top-100 pick on a wide receiver. They can’t go into the season with Brown, Willie Snead, Miles Boykin and spare parts at the position. And though the draft class might be deep at the position, waiting only increases the likelihood that the team fails to upgrade where they need to.