The Baltimore Ravens will face the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 10. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Ravens skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 10 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Lamar Jackson, QB
Against the vaunted Denver Broncos defense last week, Lamar Jackson completed 11 of 12 passes for 208 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half alone, eliminating any doubt as to the outcome of the game or the ability of anyone in this league to slow him down.
Back in Week 5, he was fantasy’s QB3 against these Bengals with 348 yards and four touchdowns through the air with another 55 on the ground. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen much from Cincinnati’s defense in the month since that masterpiece to suggest they are in a position to slow down the quest for consecutive MVPs. Could Jackson essentially decide your matchup before the weekend?
For the season, he has seven finishes as the QB6 or better, offering you an elite floor to complement a ceiling that is as high as any in the sport. He’s cleared 22 fantasy points in four straight prime-time games and has at least 39 rushing yards in all 23 career games under the bright light. You can poke a hole in most quarterback résumés, but Jackson isn’t “most” quarterbacks.
Derrick Henry, RB
Derrick Henry is “built different,” and there simply are no two ways about it.
I feel like we could start a Chuck Norris-like campaign surrounding just how different he is than other running backs, both current and historical. Henry has run for a score in 10 straight regular season games and is coming off his third multi-score effort of the season.
You could argue that he was scripted out of the first meeting with Cincinnati (44.1% of Baltimore’s rush attempts), and yet he still ran for 92 yards with a score. Henry has been a top-10 running back in six of his past seven and there are zero signs of fatigue in his profile.
Keaton Mitchell is nearing a return and could see action this week, a note worth having in your back pocket. He isn’t going to directly take food off of Henry’s plate, but if he were to show the explosive potential that we’ve seen from him in the past, that could result in quick possessions where Henry isn’t imposing his will upon the opposition.
Justice Hill, RB
Justice Hill holds value to the Baltimore Ravens as a reliable third-down option with a good handle on the offense and the ability to produce when needed (89.3% catch rate), but his fantasy stock is nonexistent at this point.
Hill’s 2-3 targets per game would be valuable if there was an 8-12 carry upside, but there’s not, and there shouldn’t be because that would mean passing on from giving Derrick Henry the ball.
Hill played a season-low 33.3% of snaps in Week 9, and I expect role reduction to be more likely than growth moving forward.
Diontae Johnson, WR
Don’t you hate when NFL teams make trades to benefit themselves and not us?
I’m not committing to that being the case here just yet, but if you believe reports that Diontae Johnson is being viewed as the WR3 in this run-centric offense, he’ll be on the roster chopping block in short order.
But like I said, I need more than one game to make a call like that. Johnson wasn’t targeted last week in his team debut and was on the field for just 29.6% of Baltimore’s offensive snaps.
A rational human can’t justify Flexing Johnson in any setting this week, even in a great matchup. But the fact that he earned a 27.5% on-field target share with the Panthers indicates that his ability to shake free is still in his profile.
I’m hopeful that we get cheap PPR points out of Johnson with time, but I fear that the net result of this trade is even less consistent among Baltimore’s already sporadic producing pass-catching nucleus.
Rashod Bateman, WR
Rashod Bateman caught Lamar Jackson’s first pass of the game last week. The reception didn’t move the needle for me — it was the fact that he was playing ahead of the newly acquired Diontae Johnson that had my interest (90% first-quarter snap share while the game was close and the pre-game script was being executed).
Is that here to stay?
There were rumors that this could be the case, but I’m not ready to assume it as fact. More importantly, I’m not sure that it matters even if it is how this receiver depth chart shakes out.
Bateman has never earned 70 targets in a season, and I don’t love his odds of breaking that trend this season. If you have free roster space, you could do worse than holding a big-play receiver tethered to one of the two best offenses in the NFL. Bateman is a luxury stash for winning fantasy teams, but one that I’d rather not invest in if I’m doing everything I can to make a push to qualify for the postseason.
Zay Flowers, WR | BAL
I entered the season with the thought that Zay Flowers would be as consistent a producer as the receiver position would offer.
“He’s the clear WR1 in an offense we expect to put points on the board weekly, why can’t he be a discount Amon-Ra St. Brown?”
I may have been wrong, but the highs have been fun! His yardage production this season looks like my wife’s Peloton graph:
I think there’s a WR1 in this profile, and last week was a good example of why. There were instances in which he and Lamar Jackson showed the ability to communicate in a non-verbal way mid-play (scramble drill touchdown). Flowers has the YAC ability that we know is a constant (32 yards after the catch on his 53-yard score) and earns targets at a high level (targeted on a season-best 37.5% of his routes).
Due to the nature of this offense, I don’t think the days of Peloton Zay are behind us, but I will plan on pushing through them, as there is no matchup that I truly fear for a profile like this. You’re playing Flowers weekly and just hoping the “cool down” stretch of this ride doesn’t come at the worst possible time.
Isaiah Likely, TE
A lack of production from Isaiah Likely after that big season opener is one thing, but the lack of opportunity is another. Likely has one air yard over the past two weeks, and that’s just not going to cut it for a player who has to win with athleticism to pay off your loyalty.
I like the profile, and I think there’s something here long-term, but as long as Mark Andrews is active, you should be looking elsewhere for 2024.
Mark Andrews, TE
Mark Andrews ran 27.7 routes per game last season, and that allowed him to earn the type of volume, even in an offense structured around the ground game, to return consistent, viable production.
The Ravens have won six of their past seven games, a stretch that has seen the veteran tight end run more than 22 routes just a single time. Father Time is one thing, but not being given the opportunity to produce is another. Is Baltimore telling us that there is skill deterioration here instead of letting us see it for ourselves?
I think that’s possible, and that’s concerning, but at the same time, it’s clear that they aren’t punting on him completely, even with an athletic option waiting in the wings. Andrews’ aDOT is up 18.3% from a season ago. With six red-zone touches over his past five games, it’s clear that they still value what he brings to the table, even if it’s not what it once was.
When factoring all of that in, Andrews profiles as a matchup play more than the All-Pro we were hoping for this summer. That’s not ideal, but against the 27th-ranked red-zone defense in the league, we can project Andrews to get his chances to produce on Thursday night.
Will he make the most of his limited opportunities? I can’t predict the future (what fun would it be if I knew what was coming?), but I can tell you that the numbers suggest that he will get the opportunity, and that’s worth investing in at a position like this.