After veteran wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.’s departure this offseason, the Baltimore Ravens entered the 2024 NFL Draft with the possibility of adding another player at the position, even as early as the first round.
Instead, the Ravens ended up taking Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins with the No. 30 overall pick, waiting until the fourth round to address wide receiver with the selection of North Carolina’s Devontez Walker.
While speaking on The Ravens Lounge, general manager Eric DeCosta talked about the possibility of drafting Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy in the first round.
“Worthy is a heck of a player, an explosive guy, a guy that I liked a lot as a prospect,” DeCosta said. “But looking at him, he’s a little bit like a Zay [Flowers]/[Marquise]Hollywood Brown type of guy. We have a Zay. For us, we were looking for a different body type this year. We were looking for an outside big-bodied guy. I subscribe to the theory that it’s like a restaurant. You go to a restaurant, you want a lot of different things on the menu. You don’t want all the same thing on the menu. At the receiver position, it is smart to have different types of receivers.”
Worthy broke the record for the fastest 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, clocking in at 4.21 seconds. The Ravens did not even have the chance to take the Longhorn receiver as the Kansas City Chiefs traded with the Buffalo Bills to jump two spots ahead of Baltimore and select Worthy with the No. 28 overall pick.
