teamThe 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 Cincinnati Bengals to help you craft a winning lineup.
Lamar Jackson, QB
What we’ve come to love about Lamar Jackson as a fantasy asset recently is his development as a passer. He came into the league with generational athleticism, and that was always going to be a calling card. But he molded himself into an elite weapon from inside the pocket, making him nearly impossible to cover.
Well, October 30th was the date of his last TD pass from the pocket. He had five deep touchdown passes in September and has just one since. It’s a bit of a chicken/egg thing when it comes to his struggles through the air and the lack of big play equity with his legs (he doesn’t have a 20-yard run this season), but I don’t really care what is to blame for these monumental fantasy flops.
Figure it out, or your team is going home early.
I liked seeing the majority of his targets last week funnel to either Zay Flowers or Isaiah Likely, so that’s a start, but we need more, and we need it in a hurry. I thought there were glimpses of the vintage version last week, and in facing the third-worst defense against fantasy QBs, that’s enough to land inside of my top 10.
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We can address what to make of Jackson in Weeks 16-17 (vs. NE, at GB) when we get there, but those tough spots won’t matter if he continues to underwhelm and your team gets bounced this week.
I’m playing him over all of the hotter options that you may have picked up at some point during this season. Fingers crossed!
Derrick Henry, RB
Derrick Henry is what Derrick Henry is, and if you roster him, you’re well aware.
The sneakiest part of his profile is that he’s caught a pass in six straight games. Now, those touches don’t always result in much, but we did see him rip off a 44-yard reception against these Bengals back on Thanksgiving: any avenue to more work for Henry is a-OK by his fantasy managers.
He has at least five red zone touches in three of his past four games, and that’s what you need to see in this matchup against the fifth-worst red zone unit in the league. You’re hoping to get 100 rushing yards or a touchdown in this critical game for the Ravens, understanding that there’s a better shot in this spot of you getting both than of you getting neither.
Keaton Mitchell, RB
I don’t really know what Keaton Mitchell is in this league, but he’s something.
Before exiting Sunday’s loss against the Steelers, he racked up 76 yards on six attempts, including a 55-yarder where he just seemed to be operating at a different level than the elite athletes he was sharing a field with.
He’s a nice compliment to Derrick Henry in the short term, but what can he be at the peak of his powers?
Only time will tell on that front. If this knee injury results in any missed time, you can move on without much concern. In reality, unless your crystal suggests that a Henry injury is coming, you can move on from Mitchell regardless, understanding that the weeks left to make an impact are low. He really doesn’t have flex value when looking at mean outcomes (38 touches this season).
Rashod Bateman, WR
Rashod Bateman wasn’t slowed by the ankle injury (his 38 routes ranked behind only Zay Flowers for the Ravens on Sunday). Still, he’s one of those receivers who is asked to suck up defensive attention, not one who is relied on in a meaningful way for our game.
Despite being on the field plenty, Bateman finished Week 14’s loss with a 9.1% target share and hasn’t had a five-target game since Week 3 against the Lions.
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This Ravens offense doesn’t look right, and they have a handful of players they need to get on track before they expand Bateman’s role. There’s no need to hold here or even to stash as an upside/in case of emergency play: you can do better.
Zay Flowers, WR
Zay Flowers had a highlight reel, over-the-shoulder grab in the first quarter against the Steelers and sustained the momentum for his best game since the opener in Buffalo.
Now, he still hasn’t caught a touchdown pass since that loss to the Bills, but this was his eighth game with a +25% target share, and that’s allowed him to sustain value while Lamar Jackson struggles.
Three of his eight 30+ yard receptions this season came on Sunday, and if the Ravens are going to continue to push his role down the field, there is top 12 upside in this profile. I’m not going that far, but he’s a solid WR2 for me: the last time he went to Cincinnati, he racked up 120 yards from scrimmage and accounted for 26.9% of Baltimore’s receptions.
Isaiah Likely, TE
That’s consecutive weeks where managers with Isaiah Likely thought that a big play touchdown, only to see it get wiped off the board. On Thanksgiving night against the Bengals, it was the dramatic fumble at the goal line, and on Sunday, it was an end zone catch that looked like a catch until it was knocked out after he came to the ground.
Don’t get me started on the rules, but we didn’t get any points for it, that much I know.
He did manage to score his first touchdown of the season in the third quarter against the Steelers, but this is feeling familiar: Likely shows enough promise to suck me back in for another season.
We will see if I can quit him in 2026. For Week 15, he’s a streaming option that carries a wide range of outcomes. His 22 routes over the weekend netted six targets and four touches, a far greater rate of involvement than Mark Andrews (36 routes: five targets and one touch), but counting on anything from this passing game is a tough sell right now.
I have Likely ranked behind the Juwan Johnson/Theo Johnson tier at the position: you probably don’t need to take this big of a risk.
Mark Andrews, TE
Simply put, Mark Andrews is a tight end who relies on touchdowns, and he is playing for an offense that is currently struggling to score touchdowns.
He held a 36-22 route edge over Isaiah Likely against the Steelers in Week 14, but he gave us his fourth single-digit effort in terms of receiving yards, his second in a three-game span.
There will be points scored in this game, and the hope is that this Baltimore attack can show some signs of life. If they do, Andrews stands to gain in a big way, and that’s why he’s inside of my top 15 at the position, but it’s nearly impossible to put him much higher due to the lack of form of this passing game as a whole.
