Lee Evans to Ravens: What Can Baltimore Expect from Former Bills WR?

The year was 2004. 

The Baltimore Ravens were gearing up for the NFL draft that April, and with a gaping hole at receiver, GM Ozzie Newsome and his staff were scouting several college prospects. One of those players was Wisconsin receiver Lee Evans. 

Without a first-round pick, the Ravens would need several strokes of luck to land the highly-regarded receiver. The Buffalo Bills, with the 13th overall pick, took Evans, 38 picks before the Ravens would eventually draft a defensive lineman. 

Now, seven years later, Newsome finally has Evans on the Ravens roster. 

On Friday, the Ravens and Bills agreed to a trade that will send Evans to Balitmore and a 2012 fourth-round pick to Buffalo. 

But will Evans have the kind of impact on the 2011 Ravens that he potentially could have had as a rookie in 2004? 

To be brutally honest, Evans has wasted away in Buffalo with a myriad of below-average quarterbacks that range from Trent Edwards to J.P Losman to Kelly Holcomb. 

His best season came in 2006, when, with Losman under center, Evans caught 82 passes for 1,292 yards and eight touchdowns. He cracked 1,000 yards again two years later, but those two seasons are the only two times Evans has gone over that mark. He's also never caught 10 touchdowns. 

But there's very little chance that the Ravens are acquiring Evans with the thinking that he'll put up that kind of season. Baltimore has viable offensive weapons, including Anquan Boldin, and an offense that may rely on Ray Rice heavily this season. 

Yet the Ravens have lost several targets from last season. Gone from Baltimore are Derrick Mason, Todd Heap and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, so Evans should get plenty of opportunities. 

This also leads me to believe that the Ravens haven't been completely sold on their pair of rookie receivers—Torrey Smith and Tandon Doss. That's understandable, if even both are reported to be impressing in camp. 

Both have good size and speed, and they'll help bring a vertical element to the Ravens passing game. But Evans can do the same type of things, and he's an established NFL receiver. 

Remember, the Ravens are a bona fide Super Bowl contender. Going into such a highly-anticipated season depending heavily on two rookies was a risky move, and Newsome understood that. He's rolling the dice with Evans—a guy he's liked since he came out of Wisconsin eight years ago. 

Now, with Evans in hand, the Ravens are better-equiped to make a run at the Steelers in the AFC North, and, if things fall into place, a potential trip to Super Bowl XVLI. 

Evans has to be excited to leave Buffalo and land in Baltimore, where Joe Flacco is an established quarterback and someone who should have no problems getting him the football. Trent Edwards he is not.

Overall, it seems like a perfect match on paper. But it's up to Evans to back up the investment Newsome and the Ravens put into him. After missing out on him in '04, Newsome is hoping that Evans can be that missing piece.

A trip to the Super Bowl isn't out of the cards if Evans produces like he can, and a fourth-round pick is a small price to pay for a better opportunity to get to the game's biggest stage.