Ravens are excited about new ‘electric’ former All-Pro return specialist

Veteran wide receiver Deonte Harty is expected to bring juice to the Ravens return game.

The Baltimore Ravens lost a former first team All-Pro return specialist when they let 2020 third-rounder Devin Duvernay walk in free agency and sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars back in March. However, it didn’t take them long to find his replacement as they signed another experienced returner a month later with five-year veteran Deonte Harty who special team coordinator Chris Horton and the rest of the team is really excited about adding to the mix.

“I think this guy – he’s electric,” Horton said Thursday. “He’s been a Pro Bowl player. He’s been an All-Pro player, and when he was sitting there and his name came up, it’s just, ‘Oh, man. We lost our guy. We need a guy to fill these shoes, a guy with some experience.’ You like to have a guy with some experience so [that] you’re not really relying on young guys, especially in the punt return game.”

Harty’s presence will allow the Ravens to do “a little bit more back there” when it comes to both kick and punt returns. Last season with the Buffalo Bills, he returned 26 punts for 323 punt return yards—second most in his career, recorded his second career touchdown and the longest in both league last year and in his former team’s franchise history of 96 yards. Harty also averaged a career-high 12.4 yards per punt return.

The touchdown return was the only one of its kind last season due in large part to the former kick return rules.

“I’m excited about him,” Horton said. “I know the coaches are. The players are. When I talk to the guys, some of the veteran guys, ‘Hey, we’ve got Harty coming in.’ Those guys ask ‘Is that the guy from the Saints, the guy who used to be on the Saints? I say, ‘Yeah, man, that’s the little returner from the Saints.’ So, he’s a well-known and respected returner in this league, and we love him.”

As far as how the Ravens will be adjusting to the league’s new kick return rules outside of the specialist spot, Horton shared that they will experiment using bigger body types and positions that didn’t traditionally like up on kick return or coverage teams in the past. Under the new rules, those plays will essentially be offensive and defensive battles with more of an emphasis on blocking than speed and athleticism.

“I think that the guys that, originally, you wouldn’t necessarily put out there because of the long speed running, that stuff’s kind of dead now,” Horton said. “It’s a little bit closer. So, again, we’re asking guys to … really, when you think about it, it’s almost like a defensive and offensive play. They’re within five yards from each other. So, I could see us using a lot of our bigger outside linebackers on this phase because they’re good with hand-to-hand combat. They’re physical players. So, again, we’re going to experiment with all these different things as we move forward this offseason.”