Sammy Watkins agreed Friday with a $ 6 million deal (which included $ 5 million guaranteed) with the Baltimore Ravens on Friday, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The addition of Watkins put an end to Ravens ‘difficult quest to get an experienced wide receiver for quarterback Lamar Jackson and help boost the NFL’s passing offense to 32nd place. The 4,665 receiving yards of Watkins’ career are more than double the combined career total of current Ravens receivers (2,032).
If he can stay healthy, Watkins can team up with Marquise “Hollywood” Brown as Baltimore’s first wide receiver and complete him as a valuable target for Jackson.
It was a difficult offseason for the Ravens to get a veteran wide receiver for Jackson, which further raises the question of whether the wide receivers want to play in the first offensive in Baltimore. In desperate need of a wide receiver in a declining free agent pool, the Ravens watched JuJu Smith-Schuster turn down a better offer to return to Pittsburgh last week and then lost to TY Hilton, who chose to return to Indianapolis on Wednesday.
Baltimore finally went with Watkins, who met with Ravens officials on Tuesday before going on a visit with the Colts. When Indianapolis detained Hilton, the Ravens struck a deal with Watkins.
Joining Baltimore, Watkins meets with Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman and passing game specialist Keith Williams. In Roman’s only full season as Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator, Watkins produced career highs with 1,047 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 2015. Prior to being hired by the Ravens this year, Williams served recently as coach of Watkins’ personal receivers in the off-season.
This marks the first time Baltimore has signed a wide receiver at the start of the free agency since Ravens added Michael Crabtree in 2018. The most significant free receiver signatures by Ravens in the last two years have been Seth Roberts and Dez Bryant.
One of the biggest surprises of the Ravens offseason was that Baltimore didn’t immediately sign a wide receiver when it was among the team’s top needs. The Ravens wide receivers ranked last in each of the last two seasons in catches and receiving yards, and this group ranked among the youngest in the league as their two most experienced targets (Bryant and Willie Snead IV) are free agents. Before bringing in Watkins, the first four Ravens wide receivers on their roster – Brown, Miles Boykin, Devin Duvernay and James Proche II – have been drawn up in the last two years and none are over 24 years old.
Watkins’ signing will not prevent the Ravens from drafting a wide receiver, but the need to select one in the first round should decrease.
Watkins is just the second Ravens free agent signed by another team this season. Earlier this month, Baltimore signed goalkeeper Kevin Zeitler to a three-year, $ 22.5 million contract.