The Baltimore Ravens lost one of their best wide receivers from a year ago, Torrey Smith, to the San Francisco 49ers and because of that, it was assumed that Marlon Brown would be one of the guys to step up this season. Brown, however, has missed a significant portion of training camp due to injuries and is now in danger of being left off the 53 man roster when training camp ends, according to Jeff Zriebec of the Baltimore Sun.
Steve Smith, who is entering his last season in the NFL, will start at one of the wide receiver positions, while Kamar Aiken is projected to start opposite Smith. Behind them are rookies Breshad Perriman and Darren Waller, Brown, Michael Campanaro and Aldrick Robinson, among others.
Brown looked like a promising young wide receiver after his rookie season but was unable to maintain that success last season, and back and hamstring injuries have really hurt him this camp. Even when Brown has been out there during camp, he reportedly doesn't look right and is playing extremely tentatively.
The Ravens have reportedly been giving Brown less reps recently and basically phasing him out of their plans. It is a very real possibility that Brown is in a competition for the final receiver spot with Campanaro and Waller, and it doesn't seem like he has the leg up on either of those two.
In his rookie season, the former Georgia Bulldog burst on to the scene and caught 49 passes for 524 yards and seven touchdowns in 14 games including 12 starts. Last season, Brown started just one game and only caught 24 passes for 255 yards and no touchdowns. Brown is still just 24 years old, but football is a punishing game and his injuries may just cost him a roster spot with the Ravens. The 6-foot-5 wideout would likely get a shot elsewhere if the Ravens decided to move on from him.
