Sammy Watkins agreed to a $ 6 million one-year contract (which included a guaranteed $ 5 million) with the Baltimore Ravens on Friday, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The addition of Watkins ended the Ravens’ difficult search for an experienced wide receiver for quarterback Lamar Jackson and helps boost the NFL’s 32nd pass attack. Watkins’ 4,665 reception yards in career are more than double the combined career total of the current Ravens wide receivers (2,032).
If he can stay healthy, Watkins can join Marquise “Hollywood” Brown as Baltimore’s opening wide receivers and complement him as a valuable target for Jackson.
It has been a difficult off-season for the Ravens to get Jackson a veteran wide receiver, which raises even more questions about whether the wide receivers want to play the attack first in Baltimore. Desperately in need of a wide receiver in a shrinking pool of free agents, the Ravens watched JuJu Smith-Schuster turn down a better offer to return to Pittsburgh last week and 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 leaving for a visit with the Colts. When Indianapolis hired Hilton, the Ravens struck a deal with Watkins.
Upon joining Baltimore, Watkins meets with Ravens’ offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, and passing game specialist Keith Williams. In Roman’s only full season as an offensive coordinator for Buffalo Bills, Watkins produced career records with 1,047 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 2015. Before being hired by the Ravens this year, Williams recently served as Watkins’ personal receiver coach in the off-season.
This is the first time Baltimore has hired a wide receiver so early at the free agency since the Ravens hired Michael Crabtree in 2018. The most significant wide receiver hires by the Ravens in the past two years have been Seth Roberts and Dez Bryant.
One of the biggest surprises of the Ravens’ off-season was that Baltimore didn’t sign a wide receiver right away, when it was among the team’s main needs. The Ravens’ wide receivers have ranked last in the past two seasons in catches and receiving yards, and this group has been among the youngest in the league because its two most experienced targets (Bryant and Willie Snead IV) are free agents. Before bringing Watkins, the Ravens’ four largest wide receivers – Brown, Miles Boykin, Devin Duvernay and James Proche II – were chosen in the past two years, and none of them are more than 24 years old.
Watkins’ signature will not prevent the Ravens from scaling a wide receiver, but it should lessen the need to select one in the first round.
Watkins is only the Ravens’ second free agent hired from another team this off-season. Earlier this month, Baltimore signed with guard Kevin Zeitler for a $ 22.5 million three-year contract.