The Ravens drafted wide receiver Devontez Walker in 2024, but he might be really making his presence known in 2025.
Walker only played 57 offensive snaps as a rookie and he only had one catch, although he made the most of it by scoring a touchdown in a win over the Giants. Walker otherwise spent his time playing on special teams and learning the offense, which appears to be paying off this offseason.
Walker said he felt he “wasn’t able to go out there and run full speed” because he didn’t have a full grasp of what he was doing as a rookie, but is now confident that he is “able to get lined up and go out there and play as fast as possible.” Head coach John Harbaugh noticed the change over the course of the team’s spring work.
“Every day, all he does is show up and go 100 miles an hour,” Harbaugh said, via the team’s website. “He’s got a chance to be really good.”
DeAndre Hopkins signed with Baltimore as a free agent and they have Rashod Bateman and Zay Flowers back as well, so Walker’s strong spring will have to translate to the summer in order for him to snatch the playing time that didn’t come his way as a rookie.
Browns wide receiver Diontae Johnson is coming off a rough season that saw him spend time with three teams and get suspended for detrimental conduct in one stop.
That was in Baltimore and the Ravens suspended him for refusing to enter a Week 13 game against the Eagles. Johnson explained on the Sport and Suits podcast that he was “checked out mentally” because he had not played before the team asked him to enter the game for the first time in the fourth quarter.
“I wasn’t getting into like no run plays, no like passing plays,” Johnson said. “No nothing. It was cold, I’m on the sideline just standing there like just going to the heater back and forth just waiting to hear my name called. End of third, going into the fourth they’re like ‘Tay, we need you.’ I’m like ‘Nah, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me.’ Like I was already thinking about my legs, I don’t want to go out there and put bad stuff on film. It’s not like I didn’t want to go into the game, but leading up to this point I’d already been through so much.”
Johnson was not productive in Baltimore, Carolina or Houston, which left him short on options before agreeing to sign a one-year deal with the Browns. If he can’t turn things back around in 2025, his market will be even colder than that day in Baltimore.
Ravens edge rusher Odafe Oweh sees benefits for himself from the team’s decision to sign cornerback Jaire Alexander.
Alexander signed with the team last week and joins Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins, and Chidobe Awuzie in a deep cornerback group. During an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Oweh gave his response to Alexander joining the team and made it clear that he thinks the group is going to make it difficult for opposing quarterbacks to find their receivers.
“More sacks, more sacks,” Oweh said. “That’s all I said. I’m excited to see what he can do.”
Oweh noted that it’s a “mutual relationship” when it comes to the team’s pass rushers doing their job and getting both pieces in sync would set the Ravens up for defensive success in 2025.
The Ravens have announced their training camp schedule with 12 practices open to the public.
While 11 of their practices will be held at the team’s facility in Owings Mills, Md., the club will also host an open session at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 3.
The first open practice is set for Wednesday, July 21 at 2:15 p.m. While practices are free to attend, fans must register for a spot starting on July 9.
The Ravens will also host the Colts for a joint practice on Tuesday, Aug. 5 ahead of the preseason game between the two teams on Aug. 7.
The landmark, 61-page ruling finding that the NFL encouraged teams to collude (but inexplicably concluding the teams ignored the encouragement) contains plenty of stuff we didn’t already know — and that they didn’t want us to know.
Specifically, the document includes details regarding the negotiations that finally culminated in quarterback Lamar Jackson signing a five-year contract with the Ravens in 2023.
During the hearing on the collusion case, Ravens G.M. Eric DeCosta testified that his difficulties in negotiating directly with Jackson, who has no agent, were exacerbated by (as Jackson explained it to DeCosta) technical difficulties.
“Mr. Jackson said that the microphone on his phone was not working, making communications with Mr. DeCosta difficult,” the ruling explains at page 30.
Whether that was true or a simply an avoidance technique is open for interpretation. Regardless, it’s a tangible example of the practical impediments to getting a deal done between Jackson and the Ravens. And we never would have known about it, if the NFL and NFL Players Association had been allowed to continue to conceal the ruling.
The document also explains that Jackson wanted a fully-guaranteed contract. Before the 2022 season, Jackson texted DeCosta: “I’m going to continue to request a FULLY GUARANTEED contract I understand you all DON’T and that’s fine.”
After the 2022 season, with Jackson’s five-year rookie contract completed, he again sought a fully-guaranteed contract. The Ravens offered two different three-year deals that the team “considered” to be fully guaranteed. Jackson declined both offers and requested a trade.
DeCosta asked for a list of teams to which Jackson would accept a trade. Jackson never provided a list.
Only a couple of teams expressed interest in Jackson before the non-exclusive franchise tag was applied by the Ravens. After application, no team reached out directly to Jackson.
The two sides were at impasse. Jackson wanted out. No one was contacting him. The Ravens believed he wouldn’t take a deal that wasn’t fully guaranteed.
So how did it get resolved? Here it is, from page 32 of the document: “Mr. DeCosta was preparing for the 2023 draft in April 2023 under the assumption that Mr. Jackson would no longer be playing for the Ravens, but on the eve of the draft, sent Mr. Jackson a new offer. . . . Much to Mr. DeCosta’s surprise, Mr. Jackson quickly accepted it.”
On the surface, this is two-year-old news. However, the two sides will soon be negotiating again (and may already be). Which means that Lamar may once again press for a fully-guaranteed contract, especially since he was the league MVP in 2023 and could/should have been the MVP in 2024.
However it plays out, here’s hoping he has used some of the money from his latest contract to buy a better phone.
