Devin Duvernay looked over his left shoulder, with Jets cornerback Bryce Hall draped all over him. As the pass from Lamar Jackson arrived in the right side of the end zone, Hall had a forearm at Duvernay’s facemask, but Duvernay somehow hauled in the touchdown catch as both players tumbled to the turf.
For a team looking for someone to assert himself as the No. 2 receiver after the offseason trade of Marquise Brown, the first month of the season was a definitive statement from Duvernay, who until this year had primarily made his mark as a return specialist.
Duvernay caught another touchdown later in that 24-9, season-opening Ravens win, and through the first five games, he was second on the team with three touchdown catches. Duvernay added a fourth on a 103-yard kickoff return — the second of his career — against Miami.
Duvernay has also earned what might be the most important thing for any receiver: the trust of his quarterback. Two weeks after that grab against the Jets, Duvernay caught a 4-yard, contested touchdown catch in the back of the end zone at New England. Quarterback Lamar Jackson isn’t making that throw unless he believes in his receiver.
“It started in practice, building our chemistry there,” Jackson said. “He’s fast, he’s got great hands, [he’s a] good route runner. That’s what you need in a receiver.”
“Tough With The Football”
At 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds, Duvernay didn’t stand out physically as a draft prospect, but other characteristics did.
Duvernay tied for the fifth-fastest 40-yard dash time among wide receivers at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine (4.39), and he was a high school state champion sprinter at Sachse High School near Dallas. That profile aligned with head coach John Harbaugh’s stated goal to add “a speed guy” for the offense.
Harbaugh saw something else as he watched Duvernay’s tape from the University of Texas: “In his career, he had over 160 catches with one drop. … [He had] numerous catches over the top of guys.”
General manager Eric DeCosta called Duvernay one of his favorite players in that draft, but there were anxious moments as the Ravens weighed whether Duvernay would be there for them. After taking J.K. Dobbins at No. 55 in the second round, the Ravens had four picks in Round 3. They used the first of those, at No. 71 overall, on defensive lineman Justin Madubuike, then waited and hoped that Duvernay would be available with the Ravens on the clock again at No. 92.
As Harbaugh watched from his birdhouse-lined home office during that pandemic-altered draft, the New England Patriots traded up, jumping one spot ahead of the Ravens, and selected Devin … Asiasi, tight end, UCLA.
The Ravens then drafted Duvernay, and cameras caught Harbaugh making an excited fist pump. Harbaugh later said the Ravens had targeted three players to get in the latter stages of the third round and landed all three — Duvernay, linebacker Malik Harrison and offensive lineman Tyre Phillips.
Duvernay, a cousin of Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, didn’t know whether he’d be there for the Ravens, either, and truth be told, he didn’t want to be. That was fine with Harbaugh.
“When we talked to him on the phone, he was excited, but he was a little miffed, too, that he was still there,” Harbaugh said that night. “I love when guys feel that way, especially in the third round. I think he feels like he has something to prove.”
Cautious about making too broad a comparison, DeCosta said Duvernay’s competitive streak reminded him of a few other smaller, tough, highly successful receivers with the Ravens: Anquan Boldin, Derrick Mason and Steve Smith.
“He’s really tough with the football,” DeCosta said.
Slow Start
Despite those endorsements from the coach and GM, Duvernay didn’t make much impact early with the Ravens’ offense.
As a rookie, Duvernay was targeted once or twice a game, and offensive coordinator Greg Roman occasionally called Duvernay’s number on a jet sweep to utilize his speed. Duvernay played all 16 games as a rookie, totaling 20 catches for 201 yards. He also had four carries for 70 yards.
But he quickly excelled as a kick returner. In his third career game, Duvernay scored on a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs. By the 2021 season, he was also the team’s primary punt returner — a role he never had in college — and he earned his first Pro Bowl honor after averaging a league-best 13.8 yards per punt return. Through five games this season, he was averaging 13.5 yards per punt return.
Still, as the 2021 season progressed, Duvernay continued to stay well below the radar as a receiver on a team with a pair of first-round picks in Brown and Rashod Bateman, along with veteran Sammy Watkins and tight end Mark Andrews, the team’s leading pass catcher the past two years. Duvernay finished the season with 33 catches for 272 yards.
On the first night of this year’s draft, though, the Ravens dealt Brown to Arizona. Watkins was not retained after one season in Baltimore. The team did not add any wide receivers in the draft nor did they sign any marquee free-agent receivers on the open market. (The team later signed veteran Demarcus Robinson to a one-year, $1 million deal.)
Even including Bateman, the presumed No. 1 receiver, Ravens returning receivers had a combined total of 1,227 career receiving yards — 228 fewer than Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase tallied last season alone.
Where fans and the media saw a glaring position of need, Duvernay saw opportunity. And in Duvernay, Ravens receivers coach Tee Martin saw a player who, this summer, “took his route running to the next level.”
Duvernay said he and his teammates ignored the outside noise, such as when ESPN declared the Ravens receivers the “shakiest” in the league, or when Pro Football Focus ranked the Ravens’ receivers group No. 29 among the 32 NFL teams — and that ranking factored Andrews, an All-Pro tight end.
“We don’t really listen to what the critics say,” Duvernay said after his two-touchdown performance against the Jets. “We all know what we can do. We all know our abilities, our athleticism, our speed. We know what we’re capable of. So we just focus on proving ourselves right, not really trying to prove the critics wrong or anything like that.”
Harbaugh said Duvernay’s emergence is based on a skill set the Ravens liked when they drafted him, plus a tireless work ethic.
“He’s been playing ever since he got here in some capacity, but to see him kind of flourish … is just great,” Harbaugh said after the Ravens’ Week 3 win at New England.
“He’s never satisfied,” Harbaugh added. “He’s just never satisfied. That kind of mindset goes a long way.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
Issue 277: October/November 2022
Originally published Oct. 19, 2022