Rashod Bateman Says He’s ‘Looking Forward to Bouncing Back’ as Ravens Camp Opens
Rashod Bateman has heard the noise about his career before. This time, he says he’s just trying to tune it out.
The Baltimore Ravens wide receiver addressed his path toward a bounce-back season during training camp on Thursday, speaking with reporters as Baltimore begins to rebuild an offense that stalled out last year. Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic was there for it.
“I just got to keep playing ball,” Bateman said. “I don’t get too caught up in that. A lot of stuff goes into that, but I think the only thing I can do is control what I can control. It’s making plays (when) my number’s called.”
“That’s what I’m looking forward to doing, bouncing back. That’s part of being a football player.”
Baltimore is a different operation than the one Bateman has spent his first five seasons in. The Ravens tore things down after missing the playoffs on the final play of the regular season, a 44-yard field-goal miss that ended John Harbaugh’s 18-year run as head coach. Jesse Minter is in charge now, and he brought in Declan Doyle — the NFL’s youngest offensive coordinator — to call plays for Lamar Jackson and a receiving corps still looking to find its footing. Doyle already has rookies learning hard lessons in camp, according to ClutchPoints, including one who found out the hard way not to hit Derrick Henry in a drill.
A New-Look Offense Around Bateman
Jackson remains one of the league’s most dangerous quarterbacks, and the Ravens are betting he’ll have enough around him to get the offense back to where it was in 2024. Henry returns at running back after another workhorse season. Zay Flowers enters the year as the unquestioned WR1, fresh off a four-year, $140 million contract extension that includes $108 million guaranteed, according to ESPN. The deal ties Flowers with Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson as the NFL’s fourth-highest-paid receiver by average annual value.
That leaves Bateman as the wild card. Ravens fans have waited on a true breakout from the former Minnesota star since Baltimore drafted him 27th overall in 2021, and it hasn’t happened yet. Last season was the low point: 19 catches for 224 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games, the worst full-season output of his career. General manager Eric DeCosta called it out directly this offseason, labeling it a “lost season” for the $36 million receiver.
| Season | Receptions | Yards | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 45 | 756 | 9 |
| 2025 | 19 | 224 | 2 |
| Career (5 yrs) | 157 | 2,147 | 15 |
Why Doyle’s Offense Could Fit Bateman
The scheme change is the real story here. Doyle spent 2025 as Chicago’s offensive coordinator under head coach Ben Johnson, helping the Bears finish with a top-10 scoring offense and their first NFC North title since 2018. He’s inheriting a Baltimore attack that slipped to 16th in total offense and 27th in passing a year ago, even with Jackson, Henry, Flowers and Mark Andrews all on the roster.
Part of the fix, based on early camp reporting, is getting Bateman more work out of the slot rather than lining him up almost exclusively outside. That’s a shift from how Todd Monken deployed him in previous seasons. If Doyle leans into more versatile alignments and Jackson finds Bateman on those looks, there’s a path for the sixth-year receiver to climb the pecking order behind Flowers.
It’s a lot resting on scheme fit and health — Bateman has never played a full 17-game season — but the pieces around him are as talented as they’ve ever been. Camp will tell how much of a role Doyle actually carves out for him.
