OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Free-agent wide receiver Jeremy Maclin left the Ravens’ training facility without signing a contract Thursday afternoon.
Head coach John Harbaugh said the Ravens had “a great visit” with Maclin, who also met extensively with the Buffalo Bills earlier in the week. Despite famously reaching agreements with past free-agent receivers such as Steve Smith and Mike Wallace before they left the building, Baltimore had no such luck with Maclin, who will continue to weigh his options.
“We didn’t press him to stay. You give us way too much credit on that,” said Harbaugh as he laughed. “I think talking to his wife is really important. He has a wedding this weekend, so he wants a little more time to make his decision. The main thing is you want guys to be happy. If they come here or wherever they go, you want them to look back and say, ‘Hey, I made the best decision of my life to do that.’ Well, he just got married, so second-best decision of his life. And that’s what we’re hoping for if he decides to come here.”
According to Harbaugh, Maclin had dinner with wide receivers coach Bobby Engram Wednesday evening before meeting up with several Ravens players to watch Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The retired Smith was in Owings Mills Thursday doing work for NFL Network and posted a picture of himself with Maclin outside the team cafeteria Thursday morning.
With Smith, fellow wide receiver Kamar Aiken, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and the recently-released tight end Dennis Pitta no longer on the roster, the Ravens are trying to replace roughly half of their receiving production in the passing game from a season ago. Maclin is coming off an injury-plagued 2016 campaign that brought only 44 receptions for 536 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games, but he registered back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2014 and 2015.
General manager Ozzie Newsome has spoken about adding more of an intermediate receiver to go along with Wallace and 2015 first-round pick Breshad Perriman since the start of the offseason, but the Ravens have yet to add a veteran in free agency and did not draft a wideout in April.
“It was great the way it worked out, so he had a chance to get to know the players, which is one of the big factors, certainly,” said Harbaugh of Maclin being in the building Thursday before the Ravens conducted a voluntary workout. “He was in here all morning into the early afternoon getting to know us and us getting to know him.”
With Maclin mulling offers, the Ravens could shift their focus toward New York Jets wide receiver Eric Decker, who is expected to be released or traded in the coming days. The 30-year-old missed all but three games last year with shoulder and hip injuries, but he has posted three 1,000-yard receiving seasons in his career.
