Sammy Watkins agreed to a $ 6 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens on Friday, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The deal is guaranteed to be $ 5 million, the sources said.
The addition of Watkins ended the Ravens’ difficult quest for an experienced wide receiver for quarterback Lamar Jackson and helps boost the NFL’s 32nd-ranked passing attack. Watkins ‘4,665 receiving yards are more than double the combined career total of the Ravens’ current wide receivers (2,032).
If he can stay sane, Watkins can team up with Marquise “Hollywood” Brown as Baltimore’s budding wide receivers and complement him as a valuable subordinate target for Jackson.
It has been a difficult season for the Ravens to get a veteran-wide receiver for Jackson, further raising the question of whether wide receivers want to play in Baltimore’s run-first attack. In desperate need of a wide receiver in a dwindling pool of free agents, the Ravens saw JuJu Smith-Schuster turn down a better offer to return to Pittsburgh last week and then lost to TY Hilton, who chose to go back to Wednesday. Indianapolis.
Baltimore eventually went with Watkins, who had met with Ravens officials on Tuesday before leaving to visit the Colts. When Indianapolis kept Hilton, the Ravens struck a deal with Watkins.
By joining Baltimore, Watkins reunites with offensive coordinator Greg Roman van Ravens and match-passing specialist Keith Williams. In Roman’s only full season as Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator, Watkins produced career highs with 1,047 yards receiving 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 signed a wide receiver so early in free service since the Ravens added Michael Crabtree in 2018. The Ravens’ most important signatures in the past two years were Seth Roberts and Dez Bryant.
One of the bigger surprises of the Ravens’ off-season was that Baltimore didn’t immediately draw a wide receiver when this was one of the team’s main needs. The Ravens’ wide receivers have ranked last in catches and receiving yards for the past two seasons, and this group was among the youngest in the league because their two most experienced targets (Bryant and Willie Snead IV) are free agents. Before bringing in Watkins, the Ravens’ four biggest recipients in their roster – Brown, Miles Boykin, Devin Duvernay, and James Proche II – had all been drafted in the past two years, and none of them are over 24.
Signing Watkins doesn’t stop the Ravens from drafting a wide receiver, but it should lessen the need to select one in the first round.
Watkins is only the second Ravens free agent to sign this off-season from another team. Earlier this month, Baltimore security guard Kevin Zeitler signed a $ 22.5 million three-year deal.