Rashod Bateman Responds to Eric DeCosta: ‘Stop pointing the finger’
Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Rashod Bateman responded to general manager Eric DeCosta’s Wednesday statement regarding the state of wide receivers in Baltimore.
DeCosta was critical of the team’s outlook at wide receiver these past few seasons. He didn’t directly say Bateman’s name, but rather addressed the group as a whole.
“It’s a challenging position to evaluate in different ways,” DeCosta said Wednesday at the NFL Combine.
“If I had an answer, that means I would probably have some better receivers, I guess. We keep trying. I think there are a lot of things that go along with that position. Sometimes it is tied to the quarterback. And I think it’s tied to things like durability. It’s tied to a lot of things. We’re gonna keep swinging. There have been some guys that have been successful players for us that were draft picks. We’ve never really hit on that All-Pro type of guy, which is disappointing, I would say. But it’s not for lack of effort.“
I mean, he’s really not wrong here. Baltimore’s receivers have been subpar for the last few seasons, with 2022 being no exception to the trend. The team’s leading wide receiver, Demarcus Robinson, only had 458 yards on the season.
Although DeCosta was speaking rather factually, one can see how a wide receiver on the team could be discouraged by that. Bateman especially took a disliking to what DeCosta had to say about the quarterback, backing Lamar Jackson in a tweet response that was later deleted.
“How bout you play to your player’s strength and & stop pointing the finger at us and #8 [Lamar Jackson] …blame the one you let do this…. we take heat 24/7,” Bateman said. “And 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.”
A great point was made here by Bateman, though. There is an aggressive amount of finger-pointing going on here. I just don’t think that DeCosta meant as much harm by his statement of what ended up transpiring.
After Bateman deleted the tweet, he would go on to send out a simpler follow-up: “my apologies.”
Bateman has shown a lot of upside since being drafted as a first-round pick in 2021 by Baltimore. The Minnesota product missed most of the 2022 season with a foot injury, but still posted 285 yards and two touchdowns in six games.
Former Raven Marquise Brown chimed in on the action, saying “Let him cook” in support of Bateman. Because the original tweet was deleted, so was Brown’s.
In any event, this is not the publicity that you would want if you want to retain a superstar quarterback who is considering leaving in free agency.
Eric DeCosta, I have a question. How could you put any of the heat on your quarterback when you’re trying your hardest to retain him?
The Ravens don’t seem aggressive. It doesn’t seem like they’re pushing as hard as possible to re-sign Jackson. As it stands right now, someone is going to outbid them.
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