The Baltimore Ravens have been looking for a true No. 1 wide receiver ever since Steve Smith Sr. left town following the conclusion of the 2016 season. While Baltimore has some extremely promising candidates for that role in Marquise Brown and Rashod Bateman, some are still clamoring that the team goes out and makes a big-time acquisition for a proven star at the position.
When looking at potential trades that could create the next great NFL defenses, Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report says that the Ravens could benefit from a trade with the Dallas Cowboys. The trade that Ballentine proposes is as follows:
Baltimore Ravens receive: WR Amari Cooper
Dallas Cowboys receive: CB Marcus Peters, 2022 third-round pick (No. 76 overall)
Ballentine explains his reasoning by saying that both teams would benefit from the move.
“The two sides could both fill major holes while having solid backup plans in place after this trade. The Ravens played without Marcus Peters for the entire 2021 campaign as he recovered from a torn ACL. They found a worthy replacement in Anthony Averett who allowed a passer rating of 77.5 on 101 targets.”
While Dallas is the team that “creates the next great defense” with the addition of Peters, Baltimore would suddenly have one of the best wide receiver trios in the NFL in Cooper, Brown and Bateman. However, Cooper will hold a $22 million cap hit for the remaining three years of the five-year, $100 million deal he signed with the Cowboys. That’s a significant amount of money for a position that isn’t necessarily a massive need for the Ravens at the moment.
While Cooper is a better player on paper than Peters, the cornerback is extremely valuable to the team, and would weaken a Baltimore secondary that already has plenty of question marks heading into 2022 free agency. While Averett was solid in 2021, he might depart for another opportunity in the coming weeks and it’s unclear what the future of Jimmy Smith holds.
It’s certainly possible that the Ravens look to move Peters and draft assets for an upgrade at a certain position. However, it feels like the former University of Washington star will be back in a Baltimore uniform in 2022.