Should the Ravens consider trading wide receiver Rashod Bateman?
Since receiving a contract extension a few weeks ago, Baltimore Ravens’ wide receiver Rashod Bateman has only seen his stock increase. The former 2021 first-round pick has drawn rave reviews from teammates and coaches alike thus far during the OTAs portion of the offseason program.
Tight end Mark Andrews said he believes Bateman will break out this coming season while incoming rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins claimed he’s been the hardest wide receiver to guard thus far in OTAs. While the vibes surrounding Bateman’s status are on the upward, that was not always the case.
Bateman is coming off a middling statistical season and many speculated about his future with the team prior to the contract extension. There was uncertainty surrounding his fifth-year option and whether the Ravens may look to move on from him.
Although this was mostly all put to rest now, some still see Bateman as a possible trade candidate even after being extended. Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport recently published an article naming one player that each NFL team should consider trading before the 2024 season begins. For the Ravens, Davenport listed Bateman as the trade candidate.
“It may seem doubly strange to suggest that the Ravens trade a young player . . . who was not only a former first-round pick but who just signed a three-year extension,” Davenport wrote. “But this isn’t a trade for picks. This is a play to upgrade at a position where the Ravens aren’t especially deep—say wide receiver or edge-rusher.”
In this hypothetical scenario, Davenport sees the Ravens being able to package Bateman in a trade to acquire a better player at either wideout or another position — like edge rusher.
“If there’s a team out there that buys into Bateman’s talent and reasonable salary (about $5 million a year over the next three seasons), he could be used as part of a deal that gets the Ravens an even better player at the position.”
The Ravens have been adamant in their belief in Bateman’s upside as a player. From Eric DeCosta to John Harbaugh and across the board, they’ve expressed confidence in Bateman’s potential to improve and emerge as a breakout player as soon as this upcoming season in 2024.
With this in mind, it’s very difficult to see them trading him in any realistic scenario. There are certainly some more established players out there that could maybe be acquired for a hefty sum but not plausibly enough for the Ravens to actually engage a deal.
It’d also be unclear what Bateman’s market around the league would be right now. As Davenport also notes, his career-high in receiving yardage is only 515 and he’s been sub-400 yards in each of the past two seasons. Bateman’s talent has been mitigated by injury struggles, which limited him to 19 games during his first two years.
Bateman did appear in a career-best 16 games in 2023 but was only a complimentary piece in the passing game behind Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews, and Odell Beckham Jr. With the latter now gone, Bateman is expected to step into a full-time starting role as one Lamar Jackson’s most trusted targets on offense.
The stars are aligning for Bateman to have his best season yet and the Ravens have clearly bet on him to do so.