What do we make of Hollywood Brown? Neat little receiver. Looks like he could be another DeSean Jackson. But the Ravens are starting Lamar Jackson, and that has me worried about their ability to get him the ball.
They had a lot of success last year using Jackson as a runner, but he doesn’t seem to be close to being a viable passer yet. He looked pretty rough as a rookie.
Baltimore used mostly three wide receivers last year (Michael Crabtree, Willie Snead, John Brown) and they were a lot more success when Joe Flacco was at quarterback. In Flacco’s nine games, they combined to averaged 169 receiving yards, with 7 TDs.
Including the playoffs, Jackson started eight games, and those wide receivers combined averaged 69 yards in those games, with 4 TDs.
Hollywood Brown is most like John Brown – very small, and very fast – and he was particularly ineffective after the quarterback switch. The veteran (now with Buffalo) was having a very good year, on pace for 1,068 yards and 8 TDs while averaging 17.7 yards per catch. But Jackson couldn’t get him the ball – 10 of 33 passing, for 128 yards and a touchdown in eight games.
Of the top 15 games by these receivers last year, all but one came when Flacco was at quarterback. (The exception game came when Crabtree caught a pair of touchdowns in the second half of the playoff loss against the Chargers.) That’s using PPR scoring. The bottom 14 games, on the other hand, all came with Jackson starting.
Here are the 51 games by those receivers. I’ve got their names in bold when Jackson was starting.
| BALTIMORE'S STARTING WIDE RECEIVERS IN 2018 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Result | No | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR |
| Brown | NOR | L 23-24 | 7 | 134 | 19.1 | 1 | 26.4 |
| Crabtree | at TEN | W 21-0 | 6 | 93 | 15.5 | 1 | 21.3 |
| Brown | at PIT | W 26-14 | 3 | 116 | 38.7 | 1 | 20.6 |
| Brown | at CIN | L 23-34 | 4 | 92 | 23.0 | 1 | 19.2 |
| Crabtree | LAC | L 17-23 | 2 | 38 | 19.0 | 2 | 17.8 |
| Snead | BUF | W 47-3 | 4 | 49 | 12.3 | 1 | 14.9 |
| Brown | DEN | W 27-14 | 5 | 86 | 17.2 | 0 | 13.6 |
| Brown | BUF | W 47-3 | 3 | 44 | 14.7 | 1 | 13.4 |
| Crabtree | DEN | W 27-14 | 7 | 61 | 8.7 | 0 | 13.1 |
| Snead | at TEN | W 21-0 | 7 | 60 | 8.6 | 0 | 13.0 |
| Crabtree | BUF | W 47-3 | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 1 | 12.8 |
| Snead | PIT | L 16-23 | 7 | 58 | 8.3 | 0 | 12.8 |
| Crabtree | at CLE | L 9-12 | 6 | 66 | 11.0 | 0 | 12.6 |
| Snead | at PIT | W 26-14 | 6 | 56 | 9.3 | 0 | 11.6 |
| Crabtree | NOR | L 23-24 | 5 | 66 | 13.2 | 0 | 11.6 |
| Crabtree | OAK | W 34-17 | 3 | 21 | 7.0 | 1 | 11.1 |
| Snead | at KAN | L 24-27 | 5 | 61 | 12.2 | 0 | 11.1 |
| Snead | TAM | W 20-12 | 5 | 58 | 11.6 | 0 | 10.8 |
| Crabtree | at CIN | L 23-34 | 5 | 56 | 11.2 | 0 | 10.6 |
| Snead | at CLE | L 9-12 | 5 | 55 | 11.0 | 0 | 10.5 |
| Snead | at CIN | L 23-34 | 5 | 54 | 10.8 | 0 | 10.4 |
| Snead | at CAR | L 21-36 | 5 | 54 | 10.8 | 0 | 10.4 |
| Brown | at KAN | L 24-27 | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 1 | 10.3 |
| Snead | CIN | W 24-21 | 5 | 51 | 10.2 | 0 | 10.1 |
| Brown | at CLE | L 9-12 | 4 | 58 | 14.5 | 0 | 9.8 |
| Snead | LAC | L 17-23 | 3 | 50 | 16.7 | 0 | 8.0 |
| Snead | DEN | W 27-14 | 3 | 39 | 13.0 | 0 | 6.9 |
| Crabtree | at ATL | W 26-16 | 3 | 36 | 12.0 | 0 | 6.6 |
| Crabtree | PIT | L 16-23 | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 0 | 6.2 |
| Crabtree | at CAR | L 21-36 | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 0 | 6.1 |
| Crabtree | at KAN | L 24-27 | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 0 | 6.1 |
| Crabtree | at PIT | W 26-14 | 3 | 29 | 9.7 | 0 | 5.9 |
| Brown | at CAR | L 21-36 | 3 | 28 | 9.3 | 0 | 5.8 |
| Snead | NOR | L 23-24 | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 0 | 5.3 |
| Brown | at TEN | W 21-0 | 2 | 28 | 14.0 | 0 | 4.8 |
| Brown | at LAC | W 22-10 | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 0 | 4.7 |
| Brown | PIT | L 16-23 | 3 | 15 | 5.0 | 0 | 4.5 |
| Crabtree | CLE | W 26-24 | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 | 4.0 |
| Brown | OAK | W 34-17 | 1 | 25 | 25.0 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Snead | CLE | W 26-24 | 1 | 25 | 25.0 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Brown | LAC | L 17-23 | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 0 | 3.4 |
| Brown | CIN | W 24-21 | 1 | 23 | 23.0 | 0 | 3.3 |
| Crabtree | at LAC | W 22-10 | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 0 | 3.0 |
| Brown | TAM | W 20-12 | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | 1.9 |
| Snead | at ATL | W 26-16 | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 1.8 |
| Crabtree | CIN | W 24-21 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 1.7 |
| Brown | CLE | W 26-24 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 1.7 |
| Snead | OAK | W 34-17 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 |
| Brown | at ATL | W 26-16 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 |
| Crabtree | TAM | W 20-12 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 |
| Snead | at LAC | W 22-10 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 |
So back to Hollywood Brown. He’s an insane talent. I would have loved to see him play on almost any other team. But on this roster (at least for 2019) I don’t think he’ll do too much. There are other rookie receivers that I would definitely draft earlier.
—Ian Allan