The Ravens envisioned Jeremy Maclin as the next veteran wide receiver to enjoy success in Baltimore after being cast aside elsewhere when he signed a two-year, $11 million contract last June.
But he turned out to be closer to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Lee Evans than Steve Smith or Anquan Boldin, prompting Baltimore to release him before the start of the new league year on Wednesday. The move was expected after Maclin caught a career-low 40 passes for 440 yards and three touchdowns in 12 games and never seemed to mesh with his new team. The 29-year-old was also hampered by injuries ranging from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for two games in October to a knee sprain that ended his season in mid-December.
The move clears roughly $4.5 million in salary cap space when including the player taking Maclin’s place in the “Rule of 51” calculation.
Maclin’s tenure in Baltimore got off on the wrong foot as he recorded only two June minicamp practices with Joe Flacco before the veteran quarterback would then miss all of training camp and the preseason with a back injury. Despite connecting for a touchdown in each of the first two games of the season, the two never developed a consistent rapport. Maclin caught a season-high eight passes for 98 yards in the Week 9 loss at Tennessee, but he would mostly be a non-factor the rest of the way, recording no more than 41 receiving yards in his five remaining contests before injuring his knee early in the Week 15 win at Cleveland.
It marked the second straight disappointing season for Maclin as he caught just 44 passes for 536 yards and two touchdowns with Kansas City in 2016. Prior to that, he had recorded back-to-back seasons of at least 1,000 yards and eight touchdown catches.
General manager Ozzie Newsome said earlier this month he intended to make significant changes at the wide receiver position and agreed to deals with free agents Ryan Grant and John Brown on Tuesday. Mike Wallace and Michael Campanaro are also free agents who could join Maclin in exiting Baltimore this offseason.
#Ravens wide receivers (as of 4 p.m. today):
Ryan Grant
John Brown
Chris Moore
Breshad Perriman
Tim White
Quincy Adeboyejo
DeVier Posey— Luke Jones (@BaltimoreLuke) March 14, 2018
The Ravens have now said goodbye to each of their three notable offensive additions from last year as running back Danny Woodhead and right tackle Austin Howard were let go Tuesday. While Howard played well, the other two battled injuries and didn’t live up to expectations after many questioned why the Ravens didn’t do more to improve a below-average offense from the 2016 season.
