DeCosta: 'Insulting' to say the Ravens don't have good wide receivers originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Ravens are, and have been over the last few years, one of the more complete football teams in the NFL with Pro Bowlers scattered across various positions. However, the one area fans and media pundits tend to point to as an area of weakness is the wide receiver position.
Whether it has to do with scheme, Lamar Jackson's passing style or talent overall, the Ravens' receiving core has been one of the league's less productive units.
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Underwhelming production withstanding, general manager Eric DeCosta isn't having the narrative that the Ravens don't have good receivers. In fact, he's insulted by it.
"I'm aware that there's some fan discontent with our wide receivers and our drafting and all that, but in general I look at our record and how we win games and how we play football, and I'm proud of the team," DeCosta told reporters Monday. "We've got some really good young receivers. It's insulting to these guys when they hear that we don't have any receivers. It's quite insulting. I'm insulted by it too, to be honest."
The Ravens certainly have some solid, young pass-catching options for Jackson to throw to. Marquise Brown, Devin Duvernay, Miles Boykin and James Proche were all drafted by the Ravens and continue to flash promise. Then add in free agency acquisition Sammy Watkins, and you'd have a receiving core probably better than half the league right now.
The problem there is while all those guys are fine players, none of them are an elite No. 1 option championship teams tend to have. The Buccaneers have Mike Evans, the Chiefs have Tyreek Hill and the Bills, who the Ravens lost to in the AFC Divisional Round this past season, have Stefon Diggs.
The Ravens certainly could use one of their draft picks to try and find one of those guys, but as of now DeCosta likes what he has.
"We've got some guys that want to show everyone what they can do," DeCosta said. "We love our team, we love our roster. We've got a lot of very good, young football players who care very badly about it. We've had a lot of good receivers here over the years that have won big games for us.
"And I know this, I think Lamar likes our receivers," he said. "I think our coaches like our receivers, I think the guys on this team like our receivers."
