The Baltimore Ravens have been one of the best teams in football over the last five years, but they can’t seem to make it over the final hurdle to the Super Bowl. One of the team’s recent additions could be the missing piece.
DeAndre Hopkins has had a Hall of Fame career. Hopkins has five All-Pros, nearly 1,000 catches, and 13,000 yards receiving. He also feels like he can be someone who helps the Ravens finally reach the Super Bowl, a place Hopkins was this past season.
In an ESPN article on Wednesday by Jamison Hensley, Hopkins discussed bringing a different dimension to the Ravens during a conversation with his Pro Bowl cornerback teammate Marlon Humphrey.
“It seems like there’s been a piece that’s been missing,” Hopkins told them. “I could be that addition. I could not be that addition.”
Tight Window Throws
Hensley, in his article, makes the point that the area where Hopkins can help Lamar Jackson the most is tight window throws. For four straight years, from 2017 to 2020, Hopkins led the NFL with 12 tight-window touchdown receptions. Jackson has seldom utilized tight window throws in his game.
Hensley says, “But Jackson has thrived by finding the wide open receiver. His 52 attempts into tight windows last season were the fewest among quarterbacks with at least 500 dropbacks.”
The biggest part of a tight window throw for a quarterback is trust in the receiver to come down with the ball when it’s put in a precarious situation.
Jackson has spoken in the past about building that trust with other receivers, such as Rashod Bateman. In December of last year, Ryan Mink for the Ravens team website wrote about Jackson, discussing his connection with Bateman.
“[It’s been] us just trusting each other, us just trusting the play call and just connecting with our chemistry,” Jackson said. “Both of us had injuries in the past, so our chemistry would die off at some point of the season, but this year, we’ve been healthy, and it’s just been going how it should be going.”
Bateman and Jackson’s connection and trust in one another were evident in Bateman’s production in the 2024 season. He had career highs in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns on the year. Hopkins hopes to develop that same level of trust that Jackson has in Bateman.
Veteran Wide Receiver Carousel
Lamar Jackson is no stranger to having a veteran wide receiver to throw to. In 2020, Jackson was throwing to Dez Bryant in his 10th year in the league. Bryant only played in six games for the Ravens. The 2022 season saw DeSean Jackson come to the Ravens in his 14th season, but like Bryant, Jackson only played in a fraction of the games that season.
The Ravens once again tried their luck in the 2023 season with Odell Beckham Jr. The ninth-year pro had a decent season, but not up to the standards of his New York Giants days. Beckham Jr. played in 14 games and had 35 receptions, 565 receiving yards, and three touchdowns.
Hopkins, in his 12th season, hopes to be the veteran wide receiver on the Ravens who can turn back the clock and recapture their past glory. Time will tell, but Hopkins is certainly confident that he can be part of the solution to bring the Ravens to the next level.
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