2012 NFL Draft: Today's War Room Thoughts for the Baltimore Ravens

Wide receivers. The Baltimore Ravens need them—perhaps two in this year's draft—in order to help quarterback Joe Flacco's continued improvement and to have a more balanced offense than they did in 2011.

Running back Ray Rice was the team's leading receiver last season—by nearly 20 catches. While it certainly proved how invaluable Rice is to the Ravens, as well as how high his overall level of talent is, it's simply not a sustainable offensive strategy.

It's not like receivers Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith and tight ends Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta weren't or aren't useful—they certainly are, with the four combining for 201 catches for 2,661 yards and 18 scores last season, and three of them seeing between 50 and 60 catches apiece—but another dedicated receiver would help matters in 2012.

Veteran Lee Evans was supposed to be that player last season, but injuries kept him off the field for much of the year, and even when he was out there, he managed just four receptions for 74 yards.

Evans' low production has more to do with injuries keeping him from practicing in a lockout year in which training camps were truncated and the time to learn new playbooks was even shorter. But now he's gone, and the Ravens will have to likely find his replacement in the draft.

The Ravens need a counterpart on the outside for Smith, in order to keep the 31-year-old Boldin in the slot, where he is the most dangerous.

Clearly, a receiver is almost entirely out of the question in the first round, though with the 29th overall selection, the Ravens are in a good spot to pick one. However, their needs are simply greater on defense this year (as well as on offensive line) to use their first pick on a wideout.

In the late second round, the Ravens could go after Arizona's Juron Criner, Wisconsin's Nick Toon, LSU's Reuben Randle or Michigan's Junior Hemingway. At least two of these players—plus, likely, California's Marvin Jones—could also be had in the third round as well.

Criner's big plus is his size and reliable hands that make up for him not having the most remarkable speed. The same can be said for Toon, except that Criner is better at route-running.

Randle is one of the more exciting second- to third-round receivers but may not be the best fit for the Ravens of all of these prospects, depending on what they're looking for. He's physical, runs good routes and knows how to get yards after the catch—but his separation skills are lacking, and as such, he isn't a prototypical deep threat.

Hemingway has the size and speed to be a good possession receiver for the Ravens. He could also do some slot work and ultimately become Boldin's successor. Hemingway seems like the perfect combination of talent and dynamism that the Ravens need to add to their receiving corps, and he could be had in a later round at great value.

Jones has similar issues to Randle—problems with separation. While Randle has issues creating it in the first place, Jones is much faster, but doesn't maintain that speed, allowing defenders to catch him.

As a result, he's not much of a deep threat either.

Don't be surprised if the Ravens work out many of these receivers—and probably others, like Rutgers' Mohamed Sanu and South Carolina's Alshon Jeffery—in the weeks leading up to next month's draft.

It's almost guaranteed that the Ravens select at least one receiver and could likely do so in Rounds 2 or 3, so the team will be scheduling visits and doing its homework.

Flacco needs more help downfield, and Rice needs to catch fewer passes—with a deep receiver class in this year's draft, the Ravens should be able to find the player they're looking for.

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