The Baltimore Ravens seemingly have a growing problem with their current and former WRs after three players bashed lack of opportunities
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh might not be willing to beg free agent wide receivers to join the team, but he might want to beg his current and former wide receivers to stay off social media.
On the same day Dez Bryant said Baltimore wasn’t a good fit for him, fellow pending free agent Willie Snead posted a cryptic message on Twitter that was seemingly pointed at the Ravens. In that and subsequent posts, Snead seemed to be calling out Baltimore’s offense and coaching staff for a lack of opportunities.
While this was the most obvious instance, this isn’t the first time this offseason Snead has posted enigmatic tweets that seemed to diss Baltimore.
It might be easy to dismiss Snead’s comments considering his role and production have steadily diminished over his three years with the Ravens. After seeing 95 targets in 2018, Snead had just 94 targets over 2019 and 2020 combined. Snead could also be trying to improve his value with free agency looming, throwing out an excuse for his dropping production. However, what is far more alarming is the fact Snead doesn’t appear to be alone in sharing this viewpoint.
Not only have Bryant and Snead both effectively called out Baltimore over the past week, but Marquise Brown hasn’t exactly been silent on the matter either.
With Brown agreeing with Snead’s opinion, it puts into question his tweet from earlier in February, just minutes after it was announced the Ravens had hired passing game coordinator Keith Williams and wide receivers coach Tee Martin.
I’m not one for reading too much into what players post on social media but the sheer number of head-scratching tweets from current and former Ravens wide receivers aren’t a great sign.
With Baltimore acknowledging their struggles throwing the ball and their intent to continue being a run-first offense, three players are now being far more vocal about their displeasure. Considering the Ravens have finished no higher than 22nd in passing yards over the last three seasons and dead last in passing attempts in 2019 and 2020, it makes sense Snead, Bryant, and Brown would all be upset. It’s unclear whether the players are simply upset about the lack of opportunities in a run-first offense or if they’re more frustrated with offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Regardless of their individual concerns, Baltimore’s coaching staff needs to get with these players to find out what the problem is and fix it quickly.
An offense can’t function nearly as well if a chunk of the players aren’t buying into what’s happening. And for a team that desperately needs help at tight end and wide receiver this offseason, these public complaints can’t be doing the Ravens any favors with pending free agents. It’s these types of issues that can completely derail a team and with Baltimore so close to a Super Bowl, not addressing these concerns would be malfeasance by the Ravens’ top brass.
We’ll see what Baltimore does this offseason to potentially address these concerns, but by the sound of these tweets, increasing the number of pass attempts is the solution.
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