The Ravens quickly sign Michael Crabtree a day after his release from Raiders

Michael Crabtree has signed with the Ravens just one day after being released by the Raiders.

Crabtree spent the past three seasons in Oakland after spending his first six seasons in San Francisco with the 49ers. He’s never made a Pro Bowl, but has been a consistent contributor for the majority of his career.

Crabtree’s exit was almost immediately met with the Raiders’ signing of Jordy Nelson. But Crabtree has found his own home now, too, and he’s getting a good paycheck from the Ravens: a three-year, $21 million deal, according to Ian Rapoport.

The Ravens are happy:

Crabtree had a solid season with the Raiders in 2017. While he had 58 catches for just 618 yards in what was an overall down year for Oakland, he still managed eight touchdowns, tied for second best in his career. He should expect more targets in 2018, where he’ll be one of the better receivers on the roster:

Michael Crabtree has 8+ TD receptions in each of the last three @NFL seasons. No Raven had more than 4 TD receptions last year.@NFLResearch
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) March 16, 2018

The Ravens released Jeremy Maclin and let Mike Wallace hit free agency. They also signed John Brown this offseason.

Pro Football Focus had Michael Crabtree as the 62nd best wide receiver in the NFL based off of his 71.4 overall grade, putting him as an average wideout. He’s a solid option at the position, and while he’s probably not going to put up outrageous numbers, he’ll be there when needed.

The biggest concern with Crabtree is his drops. He caught 57.4 percent of the 101 targets he got over the year, and he was tied for ninth in the NFL with five drops.

But the Raiders cut him more to save money — money they felt like he wasn’t playing up to. Saving $7.4 million with no dead money made it a little too easy for the Raiders.

The Ravens had a deal with free agent wide receiver Ryan Grant for $29 million. While it seemed like things were in place, the deal fell through after Grant reportedly failed a physical.

GM Ozzie Newsome spoke on the situation Friday morning:

ESPN’s Adam Schefter provided some context into the situation, while also reporting that Grant will now meet with the Colts:

Ryan Grant’s agent, Rocky Arceneaux, also said that his client has been working out, running routes and his ankle was cleared from a second opinion from Dr. Robert Anderson and is not an issue. Now it’s off to meet with the Colts.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 16, 2018

At the very least, this worked out for Crabtree. He’ll now be catching passes from Joe Flacco, who he lost against in a Super Bowl just six years ago while a member of the 49ers. Oh, and they play the Rams and Aqib Talib in 2019 — there could be chain-snatching.

Let's block ads! (Why?)