After adding DeAndre Hopkins via free agency, the Baltimore Ravens’ wide receiver room is in a better spot than it ever has during the Lamar Jackson era.
As a result, the Ravens may not have much incentive to take a wideout early on in the upcoming NFL Draft, but there may be a player who’s just too hard to ignore.
Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan is widely considered the best pure wideout in this draft (not counting Colorado’s Travis Hunter, who also plays cornerback), and he could be what the Ravens have been missing. With his 6-4, 219-pound frame, McMillan projects as an elite deep threat at the NFL level. His speed has drawn some concerns as he ran a 4.53-second 40-yard dash at his pro day, but he has more than enough going for him to make up for it.
The problem is, the chances of McMillan being available when the Ravens pick at No. 27 overall are slim to none, If he ends up falling close to that point, however, The Athletic’s Derrick Klassen could see them trading up to nab him.
“I love Tetairoa and the film,” Klassen said on the “Banner Ravens Podcast.” “I think he’s really good. The people who are way too hung up on his speed, I just don’t understand it. I get that to be an elite top five pick at receiver you need to have that speed at that size. That’s where Ja’Marr Chase ends up being, that’s how you get A.J. Green, Julio Jones. He’s not in that tier.
“But the next tier down where you can be a Tee Higgins, a Courtland Sutton, a Drake London-style of player. I think he can absolutely fit into that,” Klassen said. “If he falls to like, 15, I would absolutely be willing to go and get a guy like that. In terms of if McMillan falls the way that people think that he might, I would definitely be hitting the phones to see what’s happening.”
Unfortunately, the chances of McMillan even falling that far seem low. NFL Mock Draft Database has him as the No. 11 overall prospect in its overall rankings, and many teams ahead of Baltimore have more pressing needs at the position. The Ravens also don’t tend to trade up anyway.
Besides, they did a good job of addressing their need for a deep-threat receiver in signing Hopkins.
“It was probably their best shot at trying to find it outside of the draft,” Klassen said. “For me, what the X does is two things. I think right now, when they are in the ‘got-to-have-it’ situations on potentially a 3rd & 8, Zay Flowers, to me, he can get open, but he’s not, ‘we just run a curl route at the sticks, he’s going to be able to box the guy out and catch it.’ … Bateman can get open one-on-one but he’s more of a slasher, he wins on a lot of slants and underneath routes and stuff like that. He’s just not a guy that’s outside the numbers, box people out. So, I think [Hopkins] can be valuable for those scenarios.”
