Tag: T.Y. Hilton

Grading the Ravens’ 2021 offseason through one month of free agency

The Baltimore Ravens have now navigated through one month of 2021 free agency. How have they fared so far?

The Baltimore Ravens have had plenty of mixed reviews when it comes to their 2021 offseason moves so far. Many came into this offseason expecting the Ravens to be major players, but instead they’ve operated in the same way they always have.

They’ve made a few additions and re-signed multiple players that will continue to perform well in a Baltimore uniform. Although the team did see a few players depart, their current roster is still extremely competitive, even without breaking the bank for a free agent or signing a massive amount of new players.

The legal tampering period began on March 15th, so we are officially one month into 2021 free agency. How have the Ravens’ fared so far?

The team has added just three outside players throughout the first month of the offseason in guard Kevin Zeitler, tight end Josh Oliver, and wide receiver Sammy Watkins. While Oliver is more of a reclamation project after playing in just three games during his first two NFL seasons, Zeitler and Watkins instantly make Baltimore’s offense better than it already was. Zeitler will shore up an interior offensive line group that struggled at times last season, and Watkins is an extremely versatile option who brings veteran leadership to an extremely young wide receiver room.

Despite adding some impact players, they did miss out on a few as well, such as Corey Davis, Marvin Jones Jr., Emmanuel Sanders and others. They were also reported to have interest in both JuJu Smith-Schuster and T.Y. Hilton, both of which spurned the Ravens to return to their former teams. The team could have stood to make one or two more additions during the first month of free agency, but they value compensatory picks, so signing a lot of unrestricted free agents would limit their ability to acquire those picks.

When it comes to who Baltimore has re-signed, a few key names include linebackers Tyus Bowser, Pernell McPhee and L.J. Fort, defensive end Derek Wolfe, safety Anthony Levine Sr., and more. While the Ravens’ outside additions focus on the offensive side of the ball, their re-signings are defense oriented, making sure they brought back as many key pieces from a unit that proved to be one of the best in football last season. Bowser should have an increased role in 2021, while McPhee, Fort, Wolfe and others should continue to play well.

The Ravens weren’t able to re-sign everyone from their 2020 roster, losing a few key pieces that include linebackers Matthew Judon, Yannick Ngakoue and Jihad Ward, wide receiver Willie Snead IV, and long snapper Morgan Cox. The team also opted to cut running back Mark Ingram II, who signed with the Houston Texans.

Losing Judon and Ngakoue are big blows to Baltimore’s pass rush, and losing Ward on top of both means that the Ravens will have to prioritize acquiring multiple edge rusher throughout the rest of the offseason. Snead was a key part of Baltimore’s offense for the three seasons he was with the Ravens, but with him primarily being a slot receiver, Baltimore opted to move in a different direction. For Ingram, it made sense for the Ravens to move on after a down year where he was phased out of the offense.

Overall, Baltimore has followed their blueprint from previous offseasons, so it’s not overly shocking to see the team not as active as many imagined. However, with Lamar Jackson on his rookie contract, the Ravens could have considered signing a few more unrestricted free agents, even if it meant sacrificing a compensatory pick to do so. The new players that they brought in and the old ones they re-signed keep the team extremely competitive, and as the offseason continues, Baltimore should slowly begin to sign more players and round out their roster.

Final grade: B-/C+

T.Y. Hilton ‘pumped up’ after throwing session with Carson Wentz

Hilton and Wentz have already gotten together.

It didn’t take long for Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton to get together with his new quarterback in Carson Wentz shortly after re-signing with the team.

According to Pat McAfee on his show, Hilton and Wentz got together in Indy to throw and start building some of that chemistry together. Suffice it to say, Wentz has a new fan in the Ghost.

Be warned, McAfee does use some NSFW language, but goes into detail here about the throwing session and what he learned about Hilton’s thoughts.

“So, I have on good authority that T.Y. Hilton and Carson Wentz had their first throw session together on Saturday here in the Indianapolis area,” said McAfee on his April 5 show. “I also have it on good authority that T.Y. Hilton is [expletive] pumped up about how it went.”

Wentz has been making the rounds with his teammates already this spring. Even before the deal was announced officially, Wentz met with second-year wideouts Michael Pittman Jr. and Dezmon Patmon for throwing sessions.

The connection between Hilton and Wentz will be vital. It took a minute for Hilton and Philip Rivers to get going and while they eventually did, Rivers was fine spreading the ball around.

It isn’t clear how Wentz will be looking to distribute the ball but if he and Hilton are already connecting quickly, the groundwork could be laid down for a strong bounce-back season.

Hilton is likely going to be working as the WR1/WR2 depending on the development of Pitman Jr. but the fact that he already feels strongly about Wentz is a very encouraging sign before the offseason workouts begin.

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T.Y. Hilton enjoyed being recruited by other teams in free agency

The Ghost enjoyed seeing his value on the market.

Most players at some point throughout their careers will hit the free-agent market and get the experience of other teams competing for their services. Up until the 2021 offseason, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton never got to experience that.

Before his rookie contract expired, Hilton signed a five-year, $65 million extension with the Colts. So even though he was in the prime of his career, Hilton took the guaranteed money and playing time with the team that drafted him in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft. He never hit the market for other teams to give him offers.

But that changed this offseason when the Colts allowed the 31-year-old to test free agency and see what’s out there. In his press conference with the media, Hilton said he did enjoy getting recruited by other teams.

“It was definitely fun. Me, I’m a patient guy so I was just back there just chilling, having fun, spending time with the kids, doing whatever I can to just not worry about the situation,” Hilton said last week. “But it was fun to get recruited by other teams though.”

But Hilton also acknowledged the fact that he has a chance to finish his career with the only team he’s ever played for. That helped him make his decision to re-sign with the Colts among other factors.

“It’s very special. Not many guys can say that they did that, so for me to be able to get that chance, it means a lot,” Hilton said. “I love it here. The moment I had the chance to sign back here, it was only right.”

Hilton will be returning as a key piece to the offense and will likely be a favorite target for new quarterback Carson Wentz, who is looking to prove himself worthy of being a quality starter in the league after a disastrous 2020 season.

And while Hilton did enjoy getting recruited in free agency, both he and the Colts are happy he’s wearing the horseshoe again.

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Colts’ T.Y. Hilton not ruling out retirement following 2021

The Ghost isn’t ruling anything out after 2021.

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton is returning to the only team he’s ever played for at least one more season. But what’s beyond that isn’t clear even to him.

Hilton isn’t ruling out retirement after the 2021 season. He’s also not ruling out looking for another contract. With a 17-game regular season coming up, Hilton is simply set to prepare and then reevaluate afterward.

“We’ll see how it goes. Can’t put nothing on it, but we’ll see,” Hilton said of potentially retiring after 2021.

At 31 years old, Hilton knows he’s likely reaching to final years of his career. He’s still a solid weapon for the Colts but after seeing his former quarterback and still close friend Andrew Luck thrive in retirement, it’s certainly something that has crossed his mind.

“It was good. He’s just enjoying his vacation, but he’s just very happy for me being able to sign back with Indy,” Hilton said. “He told me that if I need anything, he’s there for me – a phone call away. We talked, so he’s just very happy for me. I probably have to stop calling him for a little bit. He might make me want to retire. We’ll see (laughing).”

Hilton still feels good physically as he enters his 10th season in the NFL and will be working as the 1a-1b with second-year wideout Michael Pittman Jr., depending on how the latter’s development goes.

But Hilton said that his retirement won’t stem from how he feels physically. It will wind up coming down to his children.

“I’m great. My retirement won’t depend on me,” Hilton said. “It will depend on if I’m ready to start watching my kids play. That’s on me.”

We’ll see what 2021 has in store for Hilton but he will certainly be on retirement watch following the campaign.

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Colts officially re-sign WR T.Y. Hilton

The Ghost is back.

The Indianapolis Colts re-signed wide receiver T.Y. Hilton officially to a one-year deal, the team announced Thursday.

The Hilton deal was reported last week and he almost signed with the Baltimore Ravens, but the Colts were able to close the deal thanks ot Jim Irsay stepping in at the last second.

Now, the deal is official and Hilton will be wearing the horseshoe for the next season. Beyond that remains to be seen but the Ghost wil lbe back as a big part of the offense, which now includes Carson Wentz.

Hilton had a down year statistically even though Philip Rivers arrived on the scene. He recorded 56 receptions for 762 yards and five touchdowns.

Hilton and Michael Pittman Jr. will be working as the 1a-1b in the wide receiver room. The Colts will move Hilton around the formation a lot while Pittman Jr. will work mostly as the X.

It was necessary to get Hilton back with the Colts, especially when the market dried up so quickly. Now he’s back with Indy looking to make a run at something special with the only team he’s ever played for.

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T.Y. Hilton was seconds away from signing with Ravens

Hilton says he was five seconds away from signing with the Ravens.

Though it came down to the wire, the Indianapolis Colts were able to strike a one-year deal to keep wide receiver T.Y Hilton in the horseshoe for at least a little while longer.

Despite a bigger offer from the Baltimore Ravens, Hilton opted to stay home and sign with the Colts. That said, it wasn’t all that easy. Hilton told Pat McAfee on the Pat McAfee show that he was five seconds away from signing with the Ravens before Jim Irsay ultimately stepped in to close the deal.

Hilton sent out this cryptic tweet that alluded to some news dropping just before he signed.

“That was the (tweet) that I was almost gone,” Hilton told his former teammate in McAfee. “Five seconds away, man. That was it. I’ve been talking to (Baltimore) the whole time. They (Indianapolis) came in and made a great push at the end and they wanted to get it done.”

With a need for some stability in the wide receiver room, it’s best that Irsay stepped in and got the job done where it seemed Chris Ballard was sticking to his guns at his offer with Hilton.

As Carson Wentz looks to prove he’s still a starter in the league, Hilton should be a reliable target for him. Even if Hilton isn’t the deep burner he used to be, he’s still a very nuanced route runner who understands leverage and attacking soft spots in the zone.

Hilton will be back for one more season but it almost went into a completely different direction.

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State of Colts WR room after re-signing T.Y. Hilton

How the WR room looks in 2021.

The Indianapolis Colts and wide receiver T.Y. Hilton came to agreement on a one-year deal, keeping the longtime Colt from finishing his career with another team.

After Jim Irsay stepped in to close the deal with Hilton, the Colts now have some more stability in the room. They could very well still add some more talent to the room through the draft, but the wide receiver corps will look very similar to that of 2020.

What will be interesting is who will be the lead dog in 2021. With Hilton returning, his talent and versatilty could warrant a strong target share. But Michael Pittman Jr. is also entering his second season and the Colts are hoping he takes over as the alpha in the room.

Behind Hilton and Pittman Jr., who will be battling for the 1a-1b roles in the offense, the Colts are also hoping to see a full season from wide receiver Parris Campbell. The former second-round pick has had a rough stretch with injures and now has plenty to prove entering his third season.

The Colts also tendered the ever-reliable Zach Pascal, who has been an underrated part of the offense for the last few seasons.

Behind them, the Colts have interesting names like Dezmon Patmon, DeMichael Harris and J.J. Nelson just to name a few. There is still a chance the Colts look to add a wide receiver in the 2021 NFL draft, likely coming late on Day 2 or during Day 3.

The Colts wide receivers will have to step up for new quarterback Carson Wentz, who has a lot to prove in his own right, but the room is more stable now that Hilton is back.

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After latest failure to sign a WR, are the Ravens in trouble?

After multiple attempts to land a WR in 2021 free agency, the Ravens haven’t gotten one. We take a look at the most probable reason for it

The Baltimore Ravens swung and missed yet again this offseason. For at least the second time, Baltimore made a compelling offer to a free-agent wide receiver and was turned down. First, it was JuJu Smith-Schuster and this time it’s T.Y. Hilton. If you’re a Ravens fan, it’s enough to make you go nutty. But is it the massive deal everyone is making it out to be?

The answer is no, at least not for the reason you’re probably thinking.

I believe most fans appreciate that Baltimore is at least trying to sign another weapon for quarterback Lamar Jackson, something the masses have wanted for years now. But as the Ravens get rejected yet again, it’s leading many to wonder why as panic begins to set in about the team’s prospects of improving next season.

Unfortunately, there’s not a clear answer to the question. Very few players will ever publicly say why they turned down an offer, especially if there’s a chance at a pairing in the future. In this case, both Hilton and Smith-Schuster played it as cool as they could, focusing more on their current teams and how big of an offer Baltimore gave them over their reasoning for rejecting it.

That leads to speculation and assumptions. For some, it’s an easy shot to take at Jackson, who has been highly criticized since before the 2018 NFL draft. Even after he won the NFL’s MVP award in 2019 and critics became quieter, it didn’t take long for them to come back out the second Jackson struggled last season. However, I think it’s important to note that players around the league have spoken very highly of Jackson throughout his career and Dez Bryant recently went to bat for him earlier in the week. Even Hilton’s body language, when talking to Pat McAfee about the prospect of playing with Jackson, seemed to indicate it was a selling point and not an issue.

Others have instead looked at offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Offensive coordinators have often been the scapegoat of plenty of issues in Baltimore, seeing six of them join the team over the last 13 seasons. But there seems to be a little fire to that smoke this time around as players have taken not-so-thinly veiled shots at the Ravens’ run-first scheme. Bryant criticized the offense while defending Jackson, Willie Snead spoke out about the lack of opportunities now that he’s a free agent, and even Marquise Brown has been liking and retweeting posts about the issue.

Baltimore’s passing production has been a sore point for years now but was the main topic after the team ranked dead last in passing yards in 2020. However, that’s a little disingenuous of an argument to make considering the Ravens also finished last in passing attempts. According to Football Outsiders, Baltimore had the 17th-ranked passing DVOA, which is a far better metric for determining the success of a unit compared to just pure stat watching.

Still, the lack of opportunities and production really appear to be the issue at hand. When applying that filter to recent free-agent decisions, the picture becomes a lot clearer.

Both Smith-Schuster and Hilton re-signed with their former teams on one-year deals. Considering the free-agent market is historically low this offseason thanks to the reduction in salary cap, it makes far more sense both players are simply betting on themselves next year.

Think about it this way . . . If you’re a free-agent wide receiver and you want to make the most money possible next season, you’re going to want to sign with the team that gives you the best chance of putting up a career-best year. Would that be the place you’ve been your entire career, with a coaching staff and teammates that know how to maximize your potential? Or would you rather make a little more money for a year but have to uproot your entire life and family to move states away and play in an offense that throws the fewest passes in the NFL? The answer is pretty obvious.

It is a concern that Baltimore hasn’t been able to land a wide receiver yet despite plenty of attempts. But I also think this is a unique offseason that no one really knows how to handle, and it’s unfair to judge a team or player for how they’re trying to navigate it. Unfortunately, the Ravens are going to need to overpay to land a good wide receiver. It’s just the price that comes with having a run-first offense and, given the reported offers thus far, Baltimore seems to understand that themselves.

It’s not pretty and no one is happy right now. But this isn’t the offseason to go making accusations based on where players are or are not signing.

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T.Y. Hilton says Ravens made a ‘great push’ to sign him

The Baltimore Ravens have been working on getting in a WR for QB Lamar Jackson but yet another turned them down in free agency

The Baltimore Ravens have quietly been going after free-agent wide receivers this offseason. While the Ravens haven’t been talking publicly about their needs or desires at the position, their actions have spoken loud and clear.

According to T.Y. Hilton, he was the latest player the Ravens made a serious run at acquiring. Ultimately he re-signed with the Indianapolis Colts on a one-year deal worth $10 million, but he said Baltimore made a “great push at the end.”

The Ravens made a similar push for JuJu Smith-Schuster, offering him more money than he eventually re-signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers for. After having Sammy Watkins in for a visit earlier in the week and making a call to Kenny Golladay’s agent, Baltimore has clearly been looking to hand quarterback Lamar Jackson another weapon for this season.

Hilton is entering his 10th season in the league, having played every one of them with Indianapolis. Last season was a bit of a down year for Hilton, catching 56 passes for 762 yards and five touchdowns. However, he’s not far from one of his best seasons in 2018 where he caught 76 passes for 1,270 yards and six touchdowns over 14 games. Even in a smaller role with Baltimore, Hilton could have been a serious asset, adding some quickness and experience to pair with Marquise Brown and the Ravens’ rushing attack.

With the Colts re-signing Hilton after having hosted Watkins themselves, it could indicate they’re no longer interested in his services. Since the Ravens were clearly interested enough to bring him in, Watkins might not have too many more options available. However, Baltimore could always look at the 2021 NFL draft, with many mock drafts handing the team a wide receiver in the first round.

Time will tell how the Ravens end up solving their wide receiver issue but it’s abundantly clear they know they have one.

T.Y. Hilton chose Colts despite bigger offer from other team

The Ghost decided to stay despite a bigger offer elsewhere.

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton agreed to a one-year deal to stay with the team through the 2021 season but it appears he had another suitor willing to pay him more than Indy did.

The Colts gave Hilton a one-year deal worth $10 million with $8 million guaranteed. It isn’t clear how much more the other team paid—or who that other team is—but Hilton decided to stay with the only team he’s ever played for despite lower money.

With a new quarterback in Carson Wentz, the Colts are hoping that Hilton can provide a safety blanket of sorts for the 28-year-old. Hilton still has the ability to be a strong WR2 in the offense even if his game has slightly changed from that of being a deep threat.

With Hilton and Michael Pittman Jr. leading the way in the wide receiver room, the Colts have a solid wideout group to help Wentz get settled. That said, they are likely to add another young wide receiver in the draft.

Hilton is just 640 receiving yards away from 10,000 career receiving yards. He would be the 50th wide receiver to reach that mark and the third wide receiver in Colts history to do so.

It isn’t clear what is waiting for Hilton after the 2021 season but the Ghost will be back for at least one more go-round in the horsehoe.

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