3 free agents Ravens must target after 2024 NFL Draft

Year after year, Baltimore continues to ignore the wide receiver position.

The Ravens didn’t sign any wideouts in free agency, and they didn’t draft one until the fourth round. They actually lost a key contributing receiver from last year’s roster, as Odell Beckham Jr. signed with the Miami Dolphins.

Not that Beckham was great in Baltimore this past season, but he still represents a better No. 2 option behind Zay Flowers than what the Ravens currently have on the roster.

To be fair, financial constraints prevented Baltimore from splurging on Calvin Ridley, so it’s understandable why the Ravens didn’t go that route. But you’re telling me they couldn’t have made a play for someone like K.J. Osborn or Curtis Samuel?

There aren’t many good wide receivers remaining, but Marquez Valdes-Scantling may be the best of the bunch.

Valdes-Scantling spent the last couple of years with the Kansas City Chiefs, helping the squad win back-to-back Super Bowl titles. He even had a couple of big catches against the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.

The 29-year-old is certainly not a top-flight receiver. He probably isn’t even a low-end No. 2. But at this point, Baltimore simply needs depth at the position, so bringing in Valdes-Scantling to supplement a receiving corps that includes Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor and incoming rookie DeVontez Walker seems like a wise idea.

Valdes-Scantling is two years removed from catching 47 passes for 687 yards and a couple of touchdowns, and back in 2020 with the Green Bay Packers, he flashed big-play ability by hauling in 33 receptions for 690 yards and six scores. He led the NFL with 20.9 yards per catch that season.

He may be just what the doctor ordered for Jackson, who has never really had a deep group of receivers since entering the league in 2018.

Yannick Ngakoue – edge rusher

The Ravens lost a couple of big names on the defensive side of the ball this offseason, with edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney and linebacker Patrick Queen departing via free agency. The two stars combined for 13 sacks in 2023, and Baltimore has been unable to replace that thus far.

Getting to opposing quarterbacks was a significant part of what the Ravens did this past year, as they led the league with 60 sacks. But now, with two key members of its 2023 pass rush gone, racking up sacks just became a bit more difficult for Baltimore.

The good news is that Yannick Ngakoue—a player very similar to Clowney—is still available.

Ngakoue spent the 2023 campaign with the Chicago Bears and had a down year, logging 22 tackles and four sacks. However, since joining the NFL ranks in 2016, he had never posted any less than eight sacks in a single season prior to that.

As a matter of fact, Ngakoue is just two years removed from rattling off 9.5 sacks with the Indianapolis Colts, and in 2021, he registered 10 sacks with the Las Vegas Raiders. It seems hard to imagine that the 29-year-old fell off a cliff with the Bears, so maybe 2023 was just an anomaly for him.

Ngakoue has essentially been a mercenary since 2020, playing for five different teams since spending the first four years of his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s a similar situation to Clowney, who is now with his fifth ballclub since 2019.

And you know what? Ngakoue has probably been a better player than Clowney for the majority of his NFL tenure.

The Ravens need to replace the production lost by Clowney and Queen. They didn’t do it through the draft, so bringing in Ngakoue would be a pivotal move for the AFC contenders.

Justin Simmons – safety

Is safety an incredibly pressing need for the Ravens? No, but they did lose Geno Stone to the division-rival Cincinnati Bengals in free agency and have been unable to replace him.

Why not go after Justin Simmons?

Simmons is surprisingly still remaining on the free-agent market after being cut by the Denver Broncos in early March. The thing is, Simmons is coming off of a Pro Bowl season in which he recorded 70 tackles, a sack, three interceptions, a couple of forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and eight passes defended. He also earned his fourth Second-Team All-Pro selection in five years.

So why is he still available again?

It’s entirely possible that the 30-year-old is simply asking for too much money. Or maybe he is just waiting for the ideal scenario.

Baltimore could certainly offer Simmons some extensive playing time, and if the Ravens do sign him, he would join what would suddenly be an impressive safety rotation that also includes Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Williams.

Again, Baltimore is not in desperate need of a safety, and the importance of the safety position has been diminished in the modern NFL, anyway. But Simmons is a productive veteran with a proven track record, and the Ravens have long been known for having deep, dominant defenses.

Adding Simmons into the mix would only make things better for Baltimore in 2024.