The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Baltimore Ravens players heading into their matchup with the Cleveland Browns to help you craft a winning lineup.
Lamar Jackson, QB
It wasn’t a vintage performance on Sunday in Minnesota for Lamar Jackson (6.1 yards per pass with a touchdown, nine carries for 36 yards), but he looked healthy, and that’s the only box I need him to check right now.
Not only did he look the part, but the Ravens told us that they are confident in where he stands by having Mark Andrews flip him a pass out of a “tight” push formation.
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It’s OK to admit that the ceiling isn’t what it once was. Jackson doesn’t have a 20-yard run this season and has cleared 225 passing yards just once (yet to throw 30 passes in a single game). I find it unlikely that he’s got a QB1 overall week left in the tank this season, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be trusted as a solid top 7 option at the position.
Derrick Henry, RB
We’ve yet to get the spike Derrick Henry game since Lamar Jackson’s return, but it’s bubbling beneath the surface.
More importantly, the Ravens are winning ball games and looking good in doing so. They’ve rattled off three straight wins, and that’s put Henry in position to touch the ball 20+ times in each of those contests, something that has been the expectation for The King since joining this team.
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Justice Hill punched in a one-yard score last week as part of a sped-up drive, and that’s a pain, but again, trust the direction of this offense more than its production lately.
If you survived the lean days of Henry this season, he could well be the reason you cross the finish line.
Remaining Schedule
- Week 12 vs. Jets
- Week 13 vs. Bengals
- Week 14 vs. Steelers
- Week 15 at Bengals
- Week 16 vs. Patriots
- Week 17 at Packers
DeAndre Hopkins, WR
We are more than a month removed from the last time DeAndre Hopkins cleared 20 receiving yards in a game. While the three targets on Sunday in Minnesota were a small step in a positive direction, he’s nowhere near involved enough to justify a roster spot.
If that changes, we will adjust. This team could use a WR2, but they don’t need it. Hopkins is the type of player you keep an eye on to see if Todd Monken ups his snap share as the playoffs approach. You can root for it to happen, though there is no reason to tie up a roster spot assuming that it does.
Rashod Bateman, WR
Rashod Bateman saw a slant against pressure last week, and that got the Ravens to the one-yard line.
That was his only catch in the win over the Vikings, and I think that’s a pretty good representation of his profile: you’re hoping that he can make what little usage he gets pay off in a big way.
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More often than not, you’re left wanting more.
Bateman has turned his 31 targets this season into just 194 yards, and the big shots to him just aren’t there. The Ravens don’t need a WR2 with Zay Flowers and the tight ends handling the majority of targets, so you can cut ties here and look for help elsewhere.
Even a player like Keon Coleman isn’t perfect, but he holds a skill set that is in demand in Buffalo. I’m not sure what Bateman brings that is unique to this offense, and it would appear, based on usage, that the team agrees with me.
Zay Flowers, WR
The ceiling isn’t what we saw in that crazy Week 1 loss in Buffalo, but Zay Flowers has cleared 11 PPR points in all three games during this winning streak and in five of six overall, giving the type of high floor that we weren’t sure would ever materialize in this offense.
He’s an analytics dream.
Through 10 weeks, 59.1% of his targets have either come within five yards of the line of scrimmage or over 20 yards down the field.
That gives him access to more projectable upside than the Wan’Dale Robinson types, while maintaining the floor we all love. The Browns have shut down receivers in bad offenses and coughed up 16.5+ to a WR in each of their past four against a respectable opposition.
This matchup certainly falls into that bucket, and you should feel great about clicking Flowers into your lineup as your WR2.
Isaiah Likely, TE
I see the TE “committee” in Cleveland very much slanting in one direction, a luxury we don’t have for the other side of this game.
Week 10 TE Usage, Ravens
- Mark Andrews: 41 snaps, 23 routes, 5 targets
- Isaiah Likely: 37 snaps, 17 routes, 5 targets
Andrews got the touchdown, but this duo is combining for 31 yards on 40 routes — gross.
Now, maybe part of Sunday’s showing was the result of a scheme built around fending off Minnesota’s blitz. I’d listen to that, and things were trending slightly in the direction of Likely before that win, but Charlie Kolar led the position in receiving in that game after finding the end zone in the previous two.
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That’s not to say that Kolar has made this into a three-way competition as much as it is to say that, outside of Zay Flowers, Lamar Jackson couldn’t care less who is on the other side of his passes.
Likely was responsible for Jackson’s first completion last week, and I still rank him slightly ahead of Andrews for the remainder of the season because I give him the edge in opportunities, but with the veteran soaking up red zone usage and generalized indifference about getting either on track, neither cracks my top 15 this week.
Mark Andrews, TE
Mark Andrews has scored 16 times on 84 receptions since the beginning of last season, an absolutely absurd rate that has him functioning as something of a touchdown vulture.
Last week, we saw him line up as a “wildcat” quarterback, pivot, and pitch the ball to Lamar Jackson on a third-and-one.
Did it work? No. It’s a tight end weirdly handling the ball and pitching it to the leader of the franchise with everyone holding their breath. But the result means less to me than the idea.
The idea that Todd Monken found it necessary to scheme up a variation of the Andrews sneak has me inclined to think we’ll see more of him under center in short-yardage situations moving forward.
Personally, I’d let Derrick Henry hit the line at full speed and let the chips fall where they may, but what do I know?
Andrews has had his struggles earning volume outside the red zone in this, his age-30 season, making his usage creativity at the very least.
We know he’s still very dangerous in close, and we saw it last week with him uncovering in the back of the end zone for his fifth TD of the season. The limitations on volume scare me, especially with a gifted athlete like Isaiah Likely essentially splitting snaps with him, but if you’re content to chase a touchdown with your tight end, there are few better bets.
