Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh confirmed Thursday that Watkins is likely to play Saturday against the Falcons, Clifton Brown of the Ravens' official site reports. "We're probably going to play him," Harbaugh said. "He looks great. There was some familiarity with the offense, and I'm really, really happy and excited to have him."
Watkins isn't returning from an injury and already has prior experience with offensive coordinator Greg Roman's system from their time together in Baltimore last season, so it comes as little surprise that the wideout is on track to have a role Saturday even though he didn't rejoin the Ravens until Tuesday after being claimed off waivers from Green Bay. Even if Watkins didn't have prior experience with the system, Baltimore might not have had a choice but to throw him in the fire right away, as an already weak receiver room became even thinner when Devin Duvernay fractured his right foot in Tuesday's practice. With Duvernay now joining Tylan Wallace (hamstring) and Rashod Bateman (foot) on injured reserve, Watkins is set to challenge Demarcus Robinson, DeSean Jackson and James Proche for snaps and targets at receiver.