CAMP NOTES: “8-to-Bate” Heats Up, “Big Trav” Dominates Pass Rush Drills

When the Ravens drafted Rashod Bateman in 2021, many thought that Lamar Jackson finally had the complete receiver he needed.

Bateman did check a lot of boxes: good height and length, excellent speed, reliable hands, and technically-sound route-running.

But before he could even take a snap in purple and black, Bateman caught the injury bug that rampaged through the locker room that year. Despite missing virtually all of the preseason, he still recorded 515 yards as a rookie, building excitement into his second year. Bateman lived up to the hype at first, averaging 57 yards per game and 10.2 yards per target before he went down against the Buccaneers. He rehabbed from surgery but still didn’t quite seem like himself during the season.

Bateman finally had a fully healthy offseason in 2024 and it paid dividends in the form of 756 yards and nine touchdowns, both career-highs. He ranked third in the league in yards per reception (16.8) and seventh in yards per target (10.5) and stepped up with scores in three straight games when Zay Flowers went down at the end of the season.

Flowers’ thousand-yard season overshadowed Bateman’s mini-breakout, but the latter has looked like the team’s best receiver in training camp. On Wednesday, he caught all seven of his targets (that I saw) in 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 work, demonstrating the variety of ways that he and Jackson have built trust over two straight healthy offseasons.

When working out of his own red zone, Jackson hit Bateman on two timing routes to pick up easy yards. He also found Bateman as a secondary read on crossing routes on at least two occasions, and they also agreed on a few holes in zone coverage.

Those are a few of the little ways that the two flash their chemistry. Now for a big one:

8 and 7 allll day@Lj_era8 @R_bateman2 pic.twitter.com/Lv8im0eff7

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 13, 2025

The sneaky-fast Bateman got a step on Chidobe Awuzie and Sanoussi Kane was too late coming over, giving Jackson a window to drop a ball right into his receiver’s breadbasket for a 50-yard touchdown. Jackson isn’t afraid to target Bateman against even tighter coverage downfield, either, trusting his sure hands, body control, and eagle-eyed ball-tracking to bring in a ball only he can reach.

Put all of those things together, plus his underrated YAC ability, and 2025 Rashod Bateman might be the most talented receiver Jackson has ever played with.

That’s not a slight to Flowers, who expanded his route tree significantly last offseason but hasn’t popped consistently this summer. It’s also fair to wonder how many yards Bateman would rack up if he were put in motion and given manufactured touches as often as his younger teammate. DeAndre Hopkins obviously has a stronger pedigree and was among the best receivers in the league for several years, but is he better than Bateman right now? Probably not.

There’s somewhat of a cap on Bateman’s production in such a deep and diverse offense, but his contract is still among the best values in the league even after a raise this offseason. His targets may not surge into the triple-digits, but if he can maintain his efficiency on a small bump in volume, he could turn in a thousand-yard season of his own.

Don’t Miss the Flock Crab Feast at Jimmy’s, hosted by Jermaine Lewis!

Ravens’ Interior Rush Takes a Turn

Conversations about the Ravens’ 2025 pass rush have largely revolved around the team’s (mostly) young group of edge rushers. But the big boys in the middle will have just as much of an impact.

Nnamdi Madubuike has stacked a number of solid practices this summer, but Travis Jones dominated proceedings on Wednesday.

He flashed his ability to take up space and blockers to open space for other rushers in the first set of pass rush drills focused on stunts and twists. Towards the end of practice, the entire team circled around a 4-on-5 pass rush drill that Jones kicked off with two straight bull rushes through Roger Rosengarten and Daniel Faalele. (In the early drills, Faalele looked comfortable passing off and picking up stunts and held up against another of Jones’ bull rushes.)

Jones also contributed to the second of two straight pressures by Madubuike before Broderick Washington got in a few of his own. John Jenkins and C.J. Okoye both added to their cases to be Jones’ backup with pressures in the first drill – Jenkins with a swat rip and Okoye with a bull rush.

The end-of-practice pass rush drill was largely dominated by the defense until the third-stringers faced off. Gerald Lichtenhan, Trevor Penning, and Nick Samac all put together some good reps to protect Devin Leary longer than the first- and second-team protected their QBs. Corey Bullock also slid over to put Aeneas Peebles in the turf, something he did to Adisa Isaac on Sunday.

Other Notes and Quotes

Tyler Loop hit a 60-yard free kick on Wednesday, practicing a rarely-seen special teams quirk resulting from a fair catch at the end of a half. He went 8-of-9 on his field goal tries with a long of 52 yards. His only miss was a wide-right 48-yard ‘banzai’ attempt with the field goal unit rushing onto the field as time ran out.

RBs coach Willie Taggert gave a detailed update on Keaton Mitchell’s development in pass protection, a crucial part of his ability to get on the field on passing downs:

“[Keaton Mitchell is] much better, much better. Again, his rookie year, he didn’t have that opportunity to do that. He’s so much stronger than what he was his rookie year. He has a better understanding of how to do those things. He wouldn’t actually do that a lot in college, and now, you have a better understanding of how to do it now. Now, he’s doing it with great technique and with confidence, and that’s more than anything. [When] you’re blocking in the NFL, you have to have confidence, and he’s able to do that now, and he can have confidence because he knows what to do. He knows the play. He’s not thinking a lot. He can go out and just play, and that’s development. He’s developed to become a better pass blocker as well.”

LaJohntay Wester was apparently calling his shot to anyone who would listen before the Colts preseason game. Taggert said that Wester told him, ‘’Coach, I’m going to introduce myself to the city tonight.”

The post CAMP NOTES: “8-to-Bate” Heats Up, “Big Trav” Dominates Pass Rush Drills appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/08/14/camp-notes/bateman-jones/