Ravens Rookie Report: Week 3

The Ravens dropped their first game of the 2019 season against the Chiefs at Arrowhead. Five rookies were active and below is a breakdown of their impact on the game based on snaps and production.

Marquise Brown

Hollywood played a season-high 62 snaps, showing that concern about the health of his foot has vanished. With Lamar Jackson consistently throwing the ball his way, he has established himself as the clear-cut #1 receiver on the team. Unfortunately for Brown, Jackson struggled with accuracy for most of the game as the pair was only able to connect on two of nine targets. There were several instances where Brown was clearly behind the defense but was on the receiving end of an overthrown pass.

After three games, Brown is averaging 20.1 yards per route and has registered zero drops on catchable balls per Pro Football Focus. They also point out that Hollywood is one of three receivers with at least 20 targets to catch 100% of their catchable targets along with Odell Beckham Jr. and JuJu Smith-Schuster. That is elite company for a receiver entering just the fourth game of his career and he will be looking to add onto those numbers as the connection between him and Jackson continues to grow. He currently sits at 14 receptions for 282 yards and two touchdowns, a very promising start for the rookie out of Oklahoma.

Miles Boykin

The rookie receiver out of Notre Dame continues to underwhelm after another quiet outing in Week 3. Boykin was only targeted once all game as the ball went off his fingertips on a catchable pass that would have resulted in a touchdown. The Ravens desperately need to get a second receiver involved and Boykin continues to squander away opportunities to carve out a role. Another concern for Boykins role moving forward is his snap count as he saw his total snaps fall from 37 (48%) in Week 2 to 27 (33%) in Week 3. He trailed Brown, Snead and Roberts in playing time, which could be a trend moving forward if his lack of contribution continues. Boykin was a stand out during training camp, earning him a starting spot in the lineup, but his time looks to be running out to be an every-week contributor.

Justice Hill

Leading up to Week 3, many questioned if we would see more of Hill as the game script favored a shoot-out. This was not the case as he finished with only one carry for one yard on 11 snaps. He did see three targets in the passing game, an area where many thought he would be featured, but was not able to reel any in. With Mark Ingram dominating snaps/carries and Gus Edwards running as the clear number two, it looks like it would take an injury for Hill to be a contributor on offense. He has been the primary kick off returner thus far and has had decent success, returning two kicks for 47 yards in Week 3.

Jaylon Ferguson

For the first time in the 2019 season, Ferguson was active and recorded nine snaps. The Ravens went into this game knowing they would need all the pass-rush help they could get and decided it was time for Ferguson to enter the rotation. Unfortunately, he was unable to make it onto the stat sheet and was overall unimpressive in his snaps. He failed to set the edge on a run play which resulted in a 25-yard gain by LeSean McCoy and was stonewalled by the right tackle on the touchdown play to Mecole Hardman.

It was not a performance that would inspire more playing time moving forward and we will see if he moves back to the inactive list for Week 4. In his press conference on Tuesday, Harbaugh made it clear the young pass rushers need to step up. “We need to get our older guys a break. They can’t be playing all those snaps all year. But none of those young guys have stepped up, in my mind, and taken those reps yet and that’s disappointing. So, we’ll see who’s the man for the job.”

Based on these comments, snaps are available, and it will be up to Ferguson to seize them moving forward.

Patrick Mekari

Mekari was active for the third straight week but did not record a snap. All five starters accounted for the complete 83 offensive snaps.

Inactives

OG Ben Powers

DT Daylon Mack

QB Trace McSorley

LB Otaro Alaka