The Baltimore Ravens are only a few weeks into the offseason, but there have been plenty of storylines to keep up with. Some of those include who the team’s next offensive coordinator will be, whether quarterback Lamar Jackson will be a member of the team in 2023, as well as whether Baltimore will add more receiving weapons around wideout Rashod Bateman.
During the team’s end-of-season press conference with general manager Eric DeCosta, head coach John Harbaugh was asked about Bateman and his status heading into the offseason. Harbaugh seemed confident that the former Minnesota star is going to have a great offseason, and talked a bit about his injury as well.
"He's gonna have a great offseason."
Coach Harbaugh on Rashod Bateman: pic.twitter.com/rDda1D9rNj
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) January 19, 2023
“My understanding – and [executive vice president & general manager] Eric [DeCosta] can weigh in on this too – is that the screws can come out if it’s the best thing for them to come out. I think they will come out, but they don’t have to come out, right? I’m not exactly sure how that works. But the point about [Rashod] Bateman is he’s going to be ready really soon to run full speed. So, to Eric’s point, he’s going to have a great offseason. He’s going to be up and running. Just like Marlon [Humphrey] was in the office today talking about his offseason plans. All these guys are healthy going into the offseason, which gives them a chance to train from now until then to get ready to go, and that helps your injury outlook going forward, too.”
Before Bateman’s 2022 season ended with a foot injury that resulted in surgery, he had 15 receptions for 285 yards and two touchdowns. In the first two games of the season he had two extremely long scores, and showed his deep threat ability as well as his release package off of the line of scrimmage. If the Ravens can get another complimentary receiver on the other side of Bateman, it’s fair to expect his numbers to go up even more when healthy.
