Remember Darrius Heyward-Bey?
 
I have a feeling you might.
 
He’s the former Terp who just about every Ravens fan wanted the team to draft back in 2009. Heyward-Bey shredded the combine with a 40-yard dash time of 4.3 seconds and ended up going ninth-overall to the Oakland Raiders.
 
Two years later, the Ravens selected a different Maryland wide receiver in the second round – Torrey Smith.
 
I only bring these two up because Heyward-Bey and Smith have been working out together, Smith revealed in a tweet this morning.
 
“Agilities…hundreds….150 yrd shuttles….routes and catching out of the way….lift on deck,” he first posted.
 
“Just finished another workout with DHB #terpnation #ravens #raiders,” he said. 

I thought that was pretty interesting, and it got me thinking about the drastically different rookie seasons the two players had.
 
Smith started 14 games, caught 50 passes for 841 yards and set a Ravens rookie record with seven touchdowns. Heyward-Bey started 11 games, made nine catches for 124 yards and one touchdown.
 
That’s a colossal difference.
 
After the draft last year, Head Coach John Harbaugh made a quick reference comparing the two receivers. Turns out, he was right on the money.
 
“It remains to see if [Smith] is better, but we sure think he’s going to be,” Harbaugh said. “I think he’s got better hands. I just think he’s more natural as a receiver.”
 
It should be noted that Heyward-Bey has come a long way since his tough rookie season. He caught 64 passes for 975 yards and four touchdowns last year.

Now if Smith can continue that same trajectory of improvement, think how good he’ll be…