Steve Smith thinks Ravens’ offense is a tough place to be a wide receiver

[Poe the Raven]

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Former Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith thinks Baltimore is a tough place to play the position.

Smith said on 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore that in a run-first offense like Baltimore’s, wide receivers aren’t doing what they were brought in to do, and they may start to get frustrated.

“I’m a wide receiver, and my question is always going to be how is this passing game going to develop? I hate to say it this way, but as a wide receiver, I loved to block. But I didn’t wake up trying to block and run 70 plays a game and 68 of the 70 are run plays. Because then when the contract season comes up, you have leverage because my numbers aren’t up,” Smith said.

Last year Baltimore’s top wide receiver was Marquise Brown, who had a good year but whose raw numbers (46 catches for 584 yards) didn’t look particularly impressive. Smith may be right that it will be tough for Brown to get a big second contract with numbers like that, and it could get frustrating to be a wide receiver wanting to get the ball more.