OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens put Devin Duvernay on injured reserve Tuesday in another blow to their increasingly maligned wide receiver group.
Duvernay was limited in practice by a foot injury, and the team announced a short time later that he was going on IR. The Ravens claimed veteran receiver Sammy Watkins off waivers.
Duvernay was an All-Pro last season thanks to his work returning kicks and punts. He caught two touchdown passes in this season’s opener and another in Week 3 — although no Baltimore wideout has a receiving TD since then. The Ravens have also been without second-year man Rashod Bateman, who has been on IR with a foot injury.
Bateman was a first-round draft pick, and a lot was expected of him after the Ravens traded away receiver Marquise Brown in the offseason.
But now the Ravens are without both him and Duvernay. Of the team’s healthy wide receivers, Demarcus Robinson has 44 receptions and nobody else has more than eight.
The absence of star quarterback Lamar Jackson hasn’t helped lately. He’s missed the past two games with a knee injury, and Baltimore lost 13-3 last weekend at Cleveland.
“You have adversity every team you play on,” Robinson said. “Everything’s not going to go the way you want it to.”
Jackson missed practice Tuesday, so the clock is ticking on whether he can be ready to return by Saturday’s game against Atlanta. Tyler Huntley has started in his place.
Coach John Harbaugh wouldn’t comment on Jackson’s status Tuesday.
Duvernay caught 37 passes for 407 yards this season. The Ravens do have an effective group of tight ends led by Mark Andrews, but the wide receivers hadn’t been very effective even before this latest injury.
The 29-year-old Watkins is a familiar face. He caught 27 passes a season ago for Baltimore. He had 13 catches in nine games for Green Bay this season before being waived this week.
NOTES: LB Tyus Bowser acknowledged it was a bad move to make a social media post showing papers he found outside the facility calling for offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s firing. He said he went to see Roman and apologized. “I was coming in from the airport, just going to get some extra treatment in, and just so happened to walk up to the door and found these papers on the floor,” he said. “Wasn’t expecting to see that.” … DE Calais Campbell (knee), RB J.K. Dobbins (knee), CB Marcus Peters (calf), T Ronnie Stanley (ankle) and G Kevin Zeitler (knee) did not practice.
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