All doesn’t appear well at the Baltimore Ravens after a war of words broke out amongst members from the underperforming NFL team.
Ravens wide receiver Rashod Bateman said on Twitter he is “tired of y’all lyin and capn on players for no reason” as he called out team general manager Eric DeCosta for his comments about the lack of success for receivers the team has previously drafted.
DeCosta was speaking at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis when he admitted that he would’ve liked to “have some better receivers I guess.”
He continued, saying: “We’ve never really hit on that All-Pro type of guy, which is disappointing, but it’s not for a lack of effort … It’s one of those anomalies that I really can’t explain, other than to say that we’re not going to stop trying.”
The Ravens are the only team to have never drafted a Pro-Bowl wide receiver since their inception in 1996.
Bateman did not take kindly to DeCosta’s remarks and took to Twitter to vent his frustration.
“How bout you play to your player’s strength and & stop pointing the finger at us and #8 [quarterback Lamar Jackson] … blame the one you let do this …. we take heat 24/7. & keep us healthy … care about US & see what happen… ain’t no promises tho … tired of y’all lyin and capn on players for no reason,” the 23-year old wrote
Within an hour, Bateman had taken the tweet down, posting: “My apologies,” but not before a former fellow Ravens wide receiver – Marquise “Hollywood” – Brown replied, “let him cook.”
Brown was traded to the Arizona Cardinals in 2022 after requesting a trade from the Ravens.
The spat comes off the back of a poor couple of years for the Ravens on offense. In two of the last three seasons, Baltimore has come in the bottom three in the NFL in passing yards.
Matters are complicated by the contract situation of star quarterback Lamar Jackson who has failed to sign a long-term contract with the Ravens.
If they fail to get him signed up before the March 7 franchise-tag deadline, the Ravens will have to put the franchise tag on the 2019 NFL MVP to avoid him becoming a free agent.
Bateman himself has struggled the last few seasons with injury. The 2021 first round draft missed the first five games of his debut season and was ruled out of the 2022 season after just six games due to a foot injury.
Despite his injuries, Bateman’s rookie season was the best of the four wideouts with the Ravens. He finished the season with 46 catches for 515 yards. He added another 15 catches and 285 yards in six games in 2022.
His injury is just one of many that has brought the Ravens’ technical team under intense scrutiny. In the NFLPA’s report card released on Wednesday, it gave Baltimore strength coaches an “F-minus.” The only other team in the NFL that came below a “B” was the Atlanta Falcons with a “D-minus.”
In order to address its injury crisis, last month Baltimore fired strength and conditioning coach Steve Saunders who had come under heavy criticism from former players and fans alike.
CNN has reached out to the Ravens for comment.
