Marquise Brown was the first wide receiver drafted, but thus far he seems to be more on the Corey Coleman track than anyone else. Brown will open Ravens training camp on the non-football-injury list, and when we'll actually see him on the field is uncertain.
Back in June John Harbaugh said he hoped Brown would be ready for camp, which makes Ian Rapoport's report of "progressing well and should be back on the field in a few weeks" sound a little too cheerful. Baltimore's first preseason game is three weeks from yesterday, so pretty clearly Brown won't be ready for that. Not that the preseason is the end all and be all, but he won't be getting any reps in the offense or building a rapport with Lamar Jackson.
Brown underwent Lisfranc surgery in February. The Ravens obviously were comfortable enough with his recovery to draft him in the first round, but there was always the likelihood he'd miss a lot of offseason work. And we were cool on Brown's prospects even setting aside the injury; another speedy deep threat, John Brown, did nothing with Jackson at quarterback a year ago.
It's early, but Marquise Brown looks a lot more likely to put up lesser rookie numbers than to be one of the few breakouts among the first wide receivers drafted. Since 2000, more than half of those guys haven't even reached 600 yards in their debut seasons. On average, those guys have caught 45 balls for 619 yards and 4 TDs, and even that looks wildly optimistic.
| FIRST WIDE RECEIVER DRAFTED, 2000-PRESENT | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pk | Player | No | Yds | TD |
| 2015 | 4 | Amari Cooper, Oak. | 72 | 1070 | 6 |
| 2011 | 4 | A.J. Green, Cin. | 65 | 1057 | 7 |
| 2014 | 4 | Sammy Watkins, Buff. | 65 | 982 | 6 |
| 2012 | 5 | Justin Blackmon, Jac. | 64 | 865 | 5 |
| 2006 | 25 | Santonio Holmes, Pitt. | 49 | 824 | 3 |
| 2018 | 24 | D.J. Moore, Car. | 55 | 788 | 2 |
| 2004 | 3 | Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 58 | 780 | 8 |
| 2007 | 2 | Calvin Johnson, Det. | 48 | 756 | 5 |
| 2008 | 33 | Donnie Avery, St.L. | 53 | 674 | 3 |
| 2002 | 13 | Donte Stallworth, N.O. | 42 | 594 | 8 |
| 2000 | 4 | Peter Warrick, Cin. | 51 | 592 | 7 |
| 2005 | 3 | Braylon Edwards, Clev. | 32 | 512 | 3 |
| 2013 | 8 | Tavon Austin, St.L. | 40 | 418 | 6 |
| 2001 | 8 | David Terrell, Chi. | 34 | 415 | 4 |
| 2016 | 15 | Corey Coleman, Clev. | 33 | 413 | 3 |
| 2017 | 5 | Corey Davis, Tenn. | 34 | 375 | 0 |
| 2010 | 22 | Demaryius Thomas, Den. | 22 | 283 | 2 |
| 2003 | 2 | Charles Rogers, Det. | 22 | 243 | 3 |
| 2009 | 7 | Darrius Heyward-Bey, Oak. | 9 | 124 | 1 |
| 2019 | 25 | Marquise Brown, Balt. | ? | ? | ? |
| Avg | 45 | 619 | 4 | ||
Note also that the best four of those rookies, and six of eight, were drafted in the top 5 picks -- a lot earlier than Brown (25th).
Demaryius Thomas didn't do much as a rookie, and he went on to have a nice career with the Broncos. So no one should be giving up on Brown if he misses a lot of the preseason and then has a quiet rookie campaign. But it doesn't look like anyone should be drafting him right now, either.
--Andy Richardson