Miles Boykin brings potential to wide receiver free agent market

Miles Boykin hit the free agent market on Monday when the Baltimore Ravens announced his release. He shouldn’t take long to find a new home.

It’s uncertain whether or not the Kansas City Chiefs are open to make further moves at wide receiver—at least in free agency—but Boykin brings an interesting new addition to the free agent market as a wideout with potential who has been hurt by injury as well as a run-heavy offense since entering the league.

It’s easy to forget that Boykin was a big, physical receiver out of Notre Dame just three years ago who displayed elite athleticism in pre-draft workouts back in 2019. It’s hard for any wideout to rack up big numbers on the Ravens, and Boykin’s breakout hopes in his third season were sidelined by a hamstring injury that placed him on injured reserve and largely robbed him of an entire year of production.

The Baltimore Ravens released Miles Boykin on Monday in a move that brings some interesting potential to the free agent market at wideout.

Boykin had limited production with the Ravens despite playing in every game in his first two seasons in the league. He caught 33 passes for 470 total yards through two years, which sounds like a forgettable player not worth mentioning when released. But at 6’4 and 220 lbs., Boykin brings a big body to the mix to go with a very memorable athletic profile, including a 4.42 second time in the 40-yard dash.

The Ravens traded up in the third round of the 2019 draft to get Boykin in the first place, and NFL scouts compared him to Kenny Golladay and Alshon Jeffery. Scouting reports also focused on his “minimal technique” and that he would need considerable time to develop. Given a lost season due to injury and placement in a run-first offense, teams shouldn’t shy from still being a bit excited by his potential, even if it’s muted at this point,.

Would the Chiefs be interested here? Further moves at wideout are coming, but it feels as if the transactions remaining this offseason will all come during the draft. After all, the team already has Marquez Valdes-Scantling and JuJu Smith-Schuster to go with Mecole Hardman and a host of roster hopefuls—including vets like Corey Coleman and Josh Gordon. However, if the Chiefs liked Boykin on their own draft board from 2019, then it might prove to be interesting to offer him a second home in the NFL.