The Baltimore Ravens nearly came away with a road win in Week 1 vs. the Las Vegas Raiders. Instead, the team finds itself entering Week 2 with a loss after a tough break in overtime. The Ravens haven’t been known as a passing offense for a while now. Baltimore has always built itself through defense and the run game. Things are no different this season with Lamar Jackson at QB. Still, there are wide receivers running routes out there every Sunday and therefore, points to be had in fantasy football. Let’s take a look at the Ravens WR depth.
Fantasy Football analysis: Ravens WRs Marquise Brown, Sammy Watkins, Devin Duvernay
In Week 1 vs. the Raiders, we saw Watkins and Brown lead the receiving core for Baltimore. Watkins had the most targets (8) and yards (96), but most of his production came on a 49-yard catch. Brown had 6 receptions for 69 yards and a TD, catching all six of his targets. Behind those two, Duvernay was only targeted twice and played 39 snaps, which was the fewest of the three Ravens WRs.
Fantasy Start/Sit Recommendation
Watkins and Brown are sort of in a 1A/1B situation. There are going to be weeks in which Watkins gets most of the action, there are going to be weeks when it’s Brown and sometimes if the run game isn’t on, both will have decent outings (like in Week 1). Neither has an incredibly high ceiling given the Ravens offense and Jackson’s play style. Lamar had 30 pass attempts in a back and forth game that went to OT; Baltimore just isn’t going to throw a ton.
Because of this, Watkins and Brown are generally going to be FLEX plays in most standard leagues, mostly with 12 teams or more. Both have home run ability, which makes them good plays in the FLEX, but neither gets the type of target volume to justify a WR1/2 slot.
This week is interesting for a few reasons. Watkins has a revenge game vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. Going up against the Chiefs means the Ravens may have to ditch the run game if KC gets out to a lead. This gives us a pretty strong game script for Watkins and Brown. Both wideouts are decent FLEX plays.
Duvernay’s name hasn’t been mentioned much down here for a reason.