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The Baltimore Ravens vowed they would “build up” their wide receiver room this offseason after it was the least productive in the league last season. Thus far, general manager Eric DeCosta has delivered on that promise by signing former first-rounders Nelson Agholor and Odell Beckham Jr. over the past month.
Despite making those two veteran investments at their most glaring position of need, they are still likely to draft a receiver on one of the first two days of the 2023 NFL Draft next week from April 27-29.
They’ve been doing their due diligence on some of the top wideout prospects by hosting several of the projected first-rounders for pre-draft visits. According to NFL Network’s Taylor Bisciotti, that trend continued when they had Boston College star receiver Zay Flowers in for one of their official top-30 visits ahead of the draft.
The team has been linked and projected to land Flowers in several reports and mock drafts for months dating back to when they were reportedly “linked at the hip” with him during practices at the East-West Shrine game back in February. He was one of the top receiver prospects that the Ravens’ top decision-makers spoke highly of at their annual pre-draft press conference.
“Zay, he plays inside and out for B.C., and you see the same ability coming up to this level,” Director of Player Personnel Joe Hortiz said. “He’s strong, even though he’s not big, and certainly, he can fly. He can put pressure on a defense quickly. And he’s got outstanding hands and [trackability], so he plays bigger than his size overall, I’d say.”
He is a dynamic weapon in the passing game that does his best work after the catch making defenders miss in open space and can also stretch the field vertically. Despite his small stature at 5-foot-9 and 182-pounds, Flowers’ frame is still very muscular and compact without sacrificing any speed.
“Zay may be kind of short, but he’s not small. He’s not a little guy, plus he can accelerate,” head coach John Harbaugh said.
Given that both Beckham Jr. and Agholor are playing on one-year deals and two-time Pro Bowl returner Devin Duvernay is heading into the final year of his rookie contract, making a notable addition at the position with a high draft pick would be wise since the likelihood of all three returning isn’t going to be high.
Ravens Hosted South Carolina Standout CB For Visit: Report
According to NFL Insider Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Flowers wasn’t the only projected first-rounder that was brought to the team facility for an official pre-draft top 30 visit on Monday. They also brought in former SEC standout Cam Smith who could very well be in contention to be the pick at No. 22 overall or somewhere later in the first round in a trade-back scenario.
The 6-foot-1 and 180-pound defensive back starred for the Gamecocks the past two years after taking over as their No. 1 corner following the departure of Jaycee Horn who was a top 10 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers.
He has prototypical size and length with 31 5/8″ inch arms and possesses the ball skills and anticipatory instincts to thrive on the outside as a plug-and-play starter opposite an established No.1 corner. In his last two seasons, Smith has recorded 16 pass deflections and 4 interceptions per Sports Reference.
With veteran Marcus Peters still sitting on the open market, the Ravens need a new No. 2 cornerback to play across from three-time Pro Bowler Marlon Humphrey. Smith marks the latest highly-rated prospect at his position to visit the team in recent weeks, joining Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes and Kansas State’s Julius Brents.
Another defensive prospect that the team met on Monday was LSU defensive lineman Jaquelin Roy except it came via a virtual Zoom call according to a report from NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. He recently had a meeting with the Dallas Cowboys and will have a private workout with the New Orleans Saints as well.
Roy has good size and length at 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds with 32 3/4-inch arms and plays with powerful and active hands. In his 31 career games with the Tigers, he recorded 97 total tackles including 13.5 for loss, 4 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble per Sports Reference.
Lamar Jackson Wanted Ravens to Acquire More Than OBJ: Report
The team made their most notable addition at wide receiver arguably in franchise history by bringing in Beckham Jr. According to former NFL general manager Micheal Lombardi from a source that is “involved” with their ongoing negotiations the former league MVP on a long-term contract, he also wanted them to trade for five-time DeAndre Hopkins for the Arizona Cardinals.
“Lamar told them in a conversation, get Hopkins and get Beckham and then we can talk,” he said recently on the Lombardi Line. “The club went back to them and said ‘Look, we can’t get Hopkins and Beckham. we can’t afford both but we’ll get one of them.”
The Ravens opted to go with signing the player that wouldn’t require them to part with any draft compensation in a trade or count against the compensatory pick formula since Beckham Jr. was a street-free agent after sitting out the 2022 season. They also had already established a rapport with him and could start from scratch with his contract instead of taking on the remainder of Hopkins’ deal from the Cardinals.
The three-time All-Pro recently tweeted that he does not want a pay raise or new contract as has been widely believed to be one of the factors preventing a possible trade.
However, even if Arizona took on some of the salary cap hit for the 2022 season, under his current contract, Hopkins is still too expensive for a team that still has uncertainty at quarterback and needs to keep some cap space open to sign their rookie class and in case of injuries.
In spite of all that, according to retired NFL cornerback Adam ‘Pac Man’ Jones on the Pat McAfee Show, there’s still a chance that the 30-year-old landing in Baltimore could happen.
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