Injuries have marred Rashod Bateman‘s NFL career, and the Ravens have made significant adjustments to their wide receiver room this offseason. But the 2021 first-round pick will begin factoring into the team’s pass-catching work Wednesday.
Bateman passed his physical and is off Baltimore’s active/PUP list, the team announced. He will join Odell Beckham Jr., Nelson Agholor and first-round pick Zay Flowers in a revamped position group. Bateman has not played since sustaining a Lisfranc injury in October 2022.
While Bateman returned in time for OTAs, he received a cortisone shot in his foot in June. That injection was only supposed to sideline the Minnesota alum for a brief period, but he ended up missing two weeks of training camp. John Harbaugh alluded to Bateman’s foot surgery leading to pain in other areas. Nevertheless, the third-year receiver is back in action.
This is not new territory for Bateman, who underwent groin surgery that shelved him for part of the Ravens’ 2021 camp and the start of that season. Bateman has missed 16 games during his career thus far. After a promising start to his sophomore NFL campaign, Bateman saw the Lisfranc surgery shut him down after six games. He totaled 15 receptions for 285 yards to start last season.
The Ravens operated with intent at receiver this offseason, blowing away the competition with a $15MM guarantee for Beckham and selecting a wideout in Round 1 for the third time in five years. Flowers and OBJ have impressed at camp thus far. It will be interesting to see how Bateman looks alongside the imported duo. He will have just more than a month to return to game shape ahead of his third regular season.