Ravens Finally Developing Young Stable of Wide Receivers for Joe Flacco

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has experience, talent and a strong arm to his credit. One thing he's lacked over the years, however, is a reliable group of receivers. Flacco has mostly had to make do with a cobbled-together receiving corps, featuring one star, maybe a tight end and players to whom he's fairly loath to throw the ball.

Now, though, it seems like the Ravens' receiving corps is stabilizing and improving, and that's not only because of the addition of veteran Steve Smith Sr. 

Young receivers like Marlon Brown, Kamar Aiken and Michael Campanaro are emerging as Flacco's weapons of the future. They don't have illustrious backgrounds, but these relative unknowns should become the backbone of the Ravens' passing offense for the team's final three games of the season and into next year.

Brown is in his second year with the team, joining in 2013 as an undrafted free agent. Aiken is a three-year veteran who had been with three other teams before the Ravens signed him to the practice squad last October. Campanaro was the team's seventh-round 2014 draft pick.

Player	Snaps	Tgts.	Rec.	Rec.%	Yds.	YPR	TD	YAC	Drop
Aiken	226	29	22	75.9%	254	11.5	2	41	1
Brown	272	20	17	85.0%	162	9.5	0	44	0
Campanaro	58	6	6	100%	85	14.2	1	21	0

Aiken has been the biggest contributor of the three this year, catching 22 of 29 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He is averaging 11.5 yards per reception and has 41 total yards after the catch. Not far behind is Brown, with 20 targets and 17 receptions for 162 yards. He does not have a touchdown this year but does have 44 yards after the catch.

Campanaro has just six targets and six catches this year for 85 yards and a touchdown with 21 yards after the catch. He has played in just three games, all in October, owing to a longstanding hamstring injury. While Campanaro's full impact may not be felt until 2015, he has shown promise in a limited sample size.

What the trio brings to the Ravens is reliability. None has a catch percentage below 75 percent on the season. While Smith Sr. and Torrey Smith are the Ravens' passing leaders, with Smith Sr. catching 61 passes for 889 yards and six touchdowns and Smith catching 38 passes for 609 yards and eight scores, both are struggling to catch enough of their targets.

Smith Sr. has caught only 58.7 percent of the passes thrown to him, while Smith has caught 53.5 percent of his targets.

Further, Smith ranks fourth worst in Pro Football Focus' (subscription required) drop rate. He has eight drops on 46 catchable targets this year. In other words, he's dropping 17.39 percent of all catchable passes thrown to him this season. Smith Sr., meanwhile, ranks 24th out of 89 receivers, with seven drops on 68 catchable passes, giving him a drop rate of 10.29 percent.

A quarterback is often only as good as the receiving talent around him. The Ravens need to find people who can reliably catch Flacco's passes. 

Without tight end Dennis Pitta—who should be back in 2015 after dislocating and fracturing the same hip for the second time in two years—the Ravens have had to get a little creative.

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

That has meant reliance on tight end Owen Daniels, running back Justin Forsett and fullback Kyle Juzczyk in addition to Aiken, Brown and Campanaro. But it's the trio of receivers who will, as this season gives way to the next, be Flacco's greatest helpers while Smith and Smith Sr. are his low-percentage big-play targets.

Aiken and Brown were both contributing factors to the Ravens' 28-13 Week 14 win over the Miami Dolphins. With Smith playing just 15 snaps, owing to a re-aggravation of a knee injury he suffered in Week 13, the two filled in successfully.

Aiken caught six passes on seven targets, for 65 yards and a 13-yard touchdown. He had four catches for 41 yards on the team's 97-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter. Brown had three catches for 30 yards on the day.

The veterans in Baltimore's locker room aren't threatened by the younger receivers getting increased playing time. Smith Sr. said to BaltimoreRavens.com's Ryan Mink,

"

It's outstanding. Marlon and Kamar are always joking, saying that if I want to take any plays off, every play is more toward their player performance bonus. You can do nothing but smile. At the same time, those guys are working their tails off. They do an outstanding job during the week and it pays off during the weekend. Those guys push me and I try to push them. All we try to do is push each other.

"

Flacco currently has a completion percentage of 64 percent, yet he's Pro Football Focus' fourth-ranked quarterback in accuracy percentage, at 77.1 percent. Why? Because he's dealt with his receivers dropping a total of 29 passes this year. His completion percentage also has been dragged down by Smith's and Smith Sr.'s low catch rates. What's propped it up, however, are the surer hands of Aiken, Brown and (to a lesser extent) Campanaro.

All Flacco has ever needed is more players on the field he knows will catch the majority of the passes he throws to them. Now, it appears he has at least two, if not three. As Aiken, Brown and Campanaro continue to develop, this should be a very impressive receiving group for Baltimore. 

There has to be more to Baltimore's passing offense than checkdowns to running backs or trying to blow the top off a defense with a deep throw to Smith. It's the one area the offense has been left wanting since Flacco took over in 2008. 

Now, it appears the Ravens are on the verge of having an embarrassment of receiving riches at Flacco's fingertips. What we've seen so far out of Aiken, Brown and Campanaro appears to be only the beginning of a passing-game renaissance in Baltimore.