Keith Williams and Tee Martin are coaching together for the first time, and their collaboration will impact the Ravens passing game.
Williams is the new pass game specialist who has built a strong reputation as both a collegiate coach, and as a private coach working with NFL receivers including Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins. Martin is the new wide receivers coach who coached NFL receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster, Nelson Agholor, Robert Woods and Randall Cobb while they were in college.
Williams and Martin have helped wide receivers take their game to the next level, and the Ravens have drafted four wide receivers over the last two years – Marquise "Hollywood" Brown and Miles Boykin in 2019 and Devin Duvernay and James Proche II in 2020. Joining the Ravens gives Williams and Martin the opportunity to work with Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman and the rest of the coaching staff as they look to maximize the talents of Baltimore's young receiver group.
"Those guys are fast, young, diverse in their styles," Williams said. "You can tell that they like football, and they're ready to take the next step in development."
When former Assistant Head Coach/Pass Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach David Culley left the Ravens to become the Texans' head coach, it created a vacancy that Williams and Martin will stamp with their own approach. Martin has years of experience working with receivers, including the past two seasons as Assistant Head Coach/Wide Receivers Coach at Tennessee. Martin has spent many hours in the Ravens practice facility since joining the staff Feb. 6, studying videotape. He plans to familiarize himself quickly with Baltimore's offensive system, and he sees the Ravens' potent rushing attack as a huge plus that can help the passing attack become more dangerous.
"We are very vast here as an offense, very multiple," Martin said. "The things that we do in the run game and the passing game, it's exciting to learn a new system. (The Ravens are) the best team in the country, in the world at running the football. I'm excited learning that.
"As a college coach you always have aspirations to coach on the professional level. I feel like I was blessed and fortunate to have an opportunity to work here with the Baltimore Ravens."
Having coached NFL receivers who have enjoyed 1,000-yard seasons gives Williams a blueprint for success. He's looking forward to working with Baltimore's receiving group that is already part of a hard-working culture.
Williams has found that great players constantly strive to improve. Even top wideouts that Williams has worked with like Adams, who had 115 catches and 1,374 receiving yards with the Green Bay Packers last season, want to be pushed.
"You would think guys like that would come in and think they know it all, or have a predetermined way that they want to work out, or they're actually telling you what they want to do," Williams said. "But it's never been that way with any of those guys. They think they can get better, that's what they want to do, and they're wide open and ready to work.
"(I) relate to them, teach them how to use their tools, and introduce the mentality that goes behind that. A lot of guys have great talent, but the mentality may not match. Or they haven't developed that mentality to take full advantage of their tools. A lot of discussion about mentality comes into play. Then how you apply the drills and apply the workouts. I think those coupled together is how guys unlock all their tools and reach their potential."
Martin, who quarterbacked Tennessee to a national championship in 1998, says he's a huge fan of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. When Jackson looks downfield next season, Martin wants him to see wide receivers who are open and ready to make plays.
"We're going to play fast, we're going to have fun, we're going to be tough," Martin said. "We're going to do our jobs the way that we're asked to do our jobs, and make our fan base and our team proud of the way we play."
