The Baltimore Ravens have a plethora of pass catching weapons on their roster. From wide receiver Marquise Brown, tight end Mark Andrews and everyone in between, there are no shortage of weapons for quarterback Lamar Jackson to throw the ball to.
One of those talented pass catches is wide receiver Rashod Bateman. The rookie made a massive impact over his first few games, but hasn’t seen as many targets during his last two contests. When discussing Bateman’s role, Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh talked about how he’d like to see everyone more involved, but he doesn’t want to start “chasing numbers”.
“I’d like to see everybody more involved. I mean, I think part of it is we like it when a number of guys are targeted. It doesn’t always work out that way; you can’t create that. I think when you start chasing that, that’s when problems happen. I see every coach and every quarterback in the league get asked that question, ‘How do you get this guy or that guy more involved?’ As soon as you start chasing numbers of catches for guys, what are you chasing? What are you doing? That’s not how the game works. But we do want everybody involved, and we want it to be because we’re operating effectively and efficiently with our offense, and the ball is getting spread around based on what the coverage dictates – that’s what you hope for.”
Bateman has caught 25 passes for 301 yards in first seven NFL games. After accumulating 24 total targets from Weeks 9-11, Bateman has seen just five total targets over Weeks 12-13.
It remains to be seen how Bateman will be utilized over the last five contests of the regular season. However, even though he’s a rookie the wide receiver has done some really nice things with the ball in his hands, proving that he’s a good option to throw to.