Receivers Brown, Boykin enjoy unexpected Baltimore reunion

Ravens draft workout partners with eye on revamping corps

The partnership between the two wide receivers the Ravens hope will come to represent a new era began months ago, when neither could’ve known the other would end up in Baltimore, much less both of them.

After declaring early for the NFL draft, Oklahoma’s Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Notre Dame’s Miles Boykin trained together in Florida ahead of the NFL scouting combine. The Ravens, needing an instant-impact receiver, took Brown with the No. 25 overall pick last month, then added Boykin a day later in the third round.

Within minutes of Boykin’s selection, Brown tweeted him two purple-faced smiling emoji with horns, as if the two former workout partners were back up to no good. Not long after, Boykin replied, “Be ready.”

“Those two guys are different, but they bring speed, they bring playmaking,” coach John Harbaugh said after the Ravens took Boykin last weekend at No. 93 overall.

Both were in their Ravens jerseys Saturday for the second of two rookie minicamp practices at the team’s facility, but only one had worked up a sweat.

Brown has been sidelined since January while recovering from a Lisfranc injury. The foot issue kept him from participating in drills at the combine and the Sooners’ Pro Day, but he’s resumed running and is expected to be fully healthy for the start of training camp this summer. He said Saturday that this is the longest he’s gone without football.

“It’s tough,” he said. “But at the same time, I have fun taking those mental reps, because I kind of have an advantage getting back and being able to watch.”

Ravens officials know what they’re getting with Brown, a 5-foot-9, 166-pound speedster who finished with over 1,000 receiving yards in both of his seasons at Oklahoma. So do his new teammates.