Ravens once again go into offseason looking for a No. 1 wideout

teams player and then as a more regular target for quarterback Joe Flacco, seems guaranteed to be a significant part of the team’s plans for 2018.

“I see the same thing everybody sees,” Harbaugh said. “We have to build that thing up to where it’s great. I have no problem with the guys themselves. I think the guys themselves competed like crazy and did everything they could to be as good as they can be. The passing game wasn’t where it needed to be.”

It didn’t help, Harbaugh noted, that Flacco, Perriman and Woodhead all missed training camp because of injuries. The passing attack was more productive and less error-prone as the Ravens went 5-2 down the stretch and fell one win short of a wild-card berth. Even in that stretch, however, the Ravens connected on precious few deep strikes or long catch-and-run scores.

“That’s a tough starting point,” Harbaugh said, reflecting on the preseason injuries. “But I want to start in a way better place next year than we did this year. I think the personnel part of the wide receiver position is a big part of that.”

For their part, the receivers have said they’d like to return as a group.

“Of course,” Perriman said. “We created a bond together like no other. My teammates, they’re really kind of like my brothers. We go to war with each other and we put it on the line for each other. We just came so close.” Wallace defended the group’s talents. “You can never have too many playmakers, ever,” the nine-year veteran said. “But the fact that [people say] we did not have enough, that is ridiculous. I think it is crazy. Guys did not make as many plays as they want to make, but we have a lot of guys.”

Moore said he’s eager to build on his first burst of NFL success, which included 12 catches over the last six games and a clutch 87-yard kickoff return in the season closer.

“My body’s ready to work and get ready for a game this week,” Moore said as he cleaned out his locker earlier this month. “So it sucks. But I’m ready for next season and ready for better things.”

The Ravens thought they had sufficiently bolstered their receiving corps in the offseason, when they signed Maclin, who made the Pro Bowl in 2014, and Woodhead, who caught 80 passes out of the backfield in 2015.

Their upgrades looked good out of the gate when Woodhead caught three passes on the first drive of the season and Maclin broke a 48-yard catch-and-run touchdown later in the same half.

But injuries quickly derailed the plan. Woodhead hurt his hamstring on that initial drive and didn’t return until Week 11. Maclin missed Weeks 6 and 7 because of a shoulder injury.

Maclin returned to become the most effective receiver on the roster in the games immediately before the team’s mid-November bye week. But he never seemed on the same page as Flacco after the break and missed the last two games of the season because of a knee injury.

In the end, Maclin’s numbers with the Ravens — 12 starts, 40 catches on 72 targets, a career-worst 11 yards per catch — did not improve on the disappointing 2016 production that led to his release from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Given that and the $5 million in salarycap space the Ravens could save by cutting him before March 14, Maclin might not be long for Baltimore.

Woodhead could also be cut given his recent injury and modest production down the stretch. But the Ravens would save just $1.8 million with that move.

Meanwhile, the team faces free-agent decisions on Wallace and Campanaro.

Wallace led the team in receiving yards each of the past two seasons, and he’s a well-loved leader in the locker room. But he also struggled with drops this year, most notably in the Ravens’ season-ending loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Do I hope?” he said of re-signing with the Ravens. “Yes. But I expect nothing. You just go and you live your life and be the best person you can be and hope that things work out. It is football. You can never just expect anything. I don’t, anyway. At the same time, I love it here. Like I said, this team, these coaches, they just gave me the love for the game back at a time when it was dark. If they will have me, I will definitely come back.”