The Ravens have added a veteran receiver.
Baltimore announced on Friday that the club has signed Keith Kirkwood.
Kirkwood, 29, had participated in the Ravens’ minicamp on a tryout basis.
He appeared in 13 games with four starts last season for the Saints, catching five passes for 37 yards. He was also on the field for 89 special teams snaps.
In 31 career games since entering the league in 2018, Kirkwood has caught 24 passes for 294 yards with three touchdowns.
Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley agreed to a couple of major contract changes this offseason.
Stanley agreed to cut his base salary from $11 million to $3 million with incentives in place that could allow him to earn back some of that compensation. He also turned the 2025 season into a void year, which puts him on track for free agency a year earlier than expected.
Stanley told Jeff Zrebiec of TheAthletic.com that he agreed to the revisions because he “just wouldn’t have personally felt good about leaving Baltimore” after a run of injury-plagued seasons that have limited both his availability and effectiveness. Stanley said he doesn’t “like not playing to my capability,” so it’s good news that he’s feeling a lot healthier as the 2024 season draws closer.
“I would just say I’ve been feeling more like myself than I have in previous years,” Stanley said. “For the most part, just to be able to feel like myself physically has made me a lot happier. I guess being in that state when I was younger, it wasn’t as savory as a moment or savory as a time, just knowing that, “OK, your career could have been over after one play,” and not knowing if I was ever going to feel like that again physically or athletically. To truly feel like that and be out there and just notice myself getting better every day and feeling more like my old self every day, it definitely makes me happy.”
Stanley turned 30 in March, but a return to good health and good form would set him up well for another big deal after the 2024 season along with providing a boost to an overhauled offensive line in Baltimore. That makes his status something to watch on multiple fronts in the coming months.
Justin Madubuike showed steady improvement as a pass rusher before landing a long-term deal with the team this offseason and one of his teammates on the interior of the Ravens defensive line is hoping to make a similar leap in 2024.
Travis Jones has 2.5 sacks through his first two seasons, which is close to the three sacks that Madubuike managed in his first two years with Baltimore. Madubuike had five sacks in 2022 and then posted 13.5 while making second-team All-Pro last season.
During the Ravens’ offseason program, Jones said he was looking for the same kind of third-year breakthrough this season.
“I just want to go out there and dominate and improve off the things I did last year and just keep being better, stacking days,” Jones said, via the team’s website. “I think I want to go out there for like five, six sacks, at least. Bare minimum.”
Achieving that goal would put Jones on the right track for a big payday of his own and the Ravens would likely put that into the category of good problems to have because of the benefits it would provide to their defense.
The Ravens waived wide receiver Tayvion Robinson on Wednesday, the team announced.
The team signed Robinson, along with 21 other undrafted free agents, following the draft.
Robinson spent three seasons at Virginia Tech before transferring to Kentucky for his final two seasons. He finished his college career with 194 receptions for 2,604 yards and 14 touchdowns in 60 games played.
In 2023, Robinson totaled 41 catches for 552 yards.
He also served as a punt returner, with 639 yards and a touchdown on 67 career returns.
When Ravens starting tight end Mark Andrews missed the last six games of last season, backup Isaiah Likely played very well in his place. This year, the Ravens hope to have Andrews healthy for 17 games — but don’t want to reduce Likely’s role in the offense.
That means Likely and offensive coordinator Todd Monken have been doing plenty of work together this offseason to figure out new ways to use Likely, not just at tight end but all over the field.
“It’s being a chess piece, being anywhere ‘Monk’ needs me to be in this offense – whether it’s in the slot, in-line, in the backfield, split out wide by myself,” Likely said, via the Ravens’ website. “The more you know, the more you can stay on the field.”
Likely said he doesn’t need to campaign for more playing time because the coaching staff knows that he and Andrews are both excellent tight ends.
“They watch film. They see it,” Likely said. “It’s an emphasis for them to try to see what we can do on the field together and harp on the little things so we can get on the field together and make the most of it.”