There was some degree of uncertainty for the Baltimore Ravens when they used their first-round selection on wide receiver Marquise Brown, who at the time was recovering from a Lisfranc foot injury. But with the regular season just around the corner, they feel confident that he is ready to step on the field and play as much as needed.
Brown started training camp on the PUP List, and after being activated, slowly worked his way back, but he was able to play in the final two preseason games. The team limited him to attempting to return some punts in the preseason finale, which did not go very well at all, but that’s not what he was brought in for anyway.
“He’s full-go”, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh declared for the rookie first-round draft pick. Even though they are comfortable with where he is currently from a health standpoint, however, there are other factors at play.
“As a rookie, he hasn’t had a lot of reps”, Harbaugh acknowledged. “He’s gonna have to get up to speed quickly. We’ll have to be vigilant in what we ask him to do, things he can do well. It’ll be a challenge for [defenses], too, to cover him. He’s really fast. And he’s got great hands. That’s the challenge the other way”.
Baltimore opted to keep six wide receivers on the 53-man roster, so it’s not inconceivable that Brown could be a healthy scratch if the Ravens determine that he still has too much catching up to do from a schematic standpoint.
Three wide receivers return from last season in Willie Snead, Chris Moore, and Jaleel Scott, who was a rookie and did not contribute, but who had a strong training camp. Miles Boykin is a fellow rookie drafted in the third round, while Seth Roberts is a veteran signed in free agency. Another veteran, Michael Floyd, a former first-round pick, was released with the rest of the cuts.
While there has been a lot of talk about what their offense will look like this season, the reality is that we won’t see it for certain until the meaningful games begin to be played, and even then, it will likely remain a product in development.
The primary narrative in the offseason was that it would be a run-first look with Mark Ingram, Gus Edwards, and rookie Justice Hill as the ball-carriers, and Lamar Jackson a running threat at quarterback. Jackson said more recently that he expects to average roughly 30 pass attempts per game. The only time he attempted more than 25 passes was in the postseason loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, a game in which he completed just 14 of 29 attempts while being sacked seven times, for a total of 36 non-scramble dropbacks.
