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Rishi Patel looks at the projected fantasy football production for the 2020 Baltimore Ravens to identify potential draft values and busts.
The Baltimore Ravens arrived last season. They ran roughshod over teams with a brutal and historic rushing attack en route to a 14-2 record and the top seed in the AFC. They handed an undefeated Patriots squad their first loss and QB Lamar Jackson silenced doubters by putting up fantastic, record numbers. Unfortunately, the Ravens were one and done in the playoffs when the sleeper Tennessee Titans came into their house and pulled an upset in the Divisional Round.
Baltimore enters 2020 with no major flaws on their team. The defense is mean and the offense remains powerful with Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews, and company. There is no doubt they are one of the AFC favorites alongside Patrick Mahomes and his Chiefs. With Tom Brady and Peyton Manning no longer in the conference, it’s a whole new era of AFC battles and rivalries and Lamar and Mahomes are the new faces of the conference.
The Ravens have plenty of fantasy-worthy weapons on their offense for you to draft, so let’s dive right into where they rank.
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Quarterback
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was sensational last season. He emerged as the NFL MVP by a unanimous vote after phenomenal play all throughout the 2019 campaign. Jackson has a bright NFL future and the Ravens are in good hands with him.
The 23-year-old racked up 3,127 pass yards, 36 pass touchdowns, six picks, 208.5 pass yards per game, a 113.3 quarterback rating, 1,206 rush yards, seven rush touchdowns, 6.9 rush yards per attempt, and 80.4 rush yards per game. He had a 17.5 percent poor throws per pass attempt rate. Lamar is a true dual-threat and his monster numbers in the rushing and passing game helped him elevate to elite fantasy status last season.
Jackson was far and away one of the best overall fantasy players in 2019, finishing first overall among QBs and second among all fantasy players with 415 points. This is in the conversation for one of the best fantasy seasons by any one player in fantasy history.
The Florida native ranked first among NFL QBs in pass touchdowns and third in QBR. Among rushers, he ranked sixth in rush yards, tied for first in rush yards per attempt, and eighth in rush yards per game.
Coming off an elite statistical season and MVP honors, along with receiving new weapons in addition to getting back the old ones, Jackson once again brings huge potential in fantasy for 2020. He should be considered the top fantasy QB prospect with a very high ceiling. He is a “set it and forget it” player for fantasy teams in which owners never need to look back (with the only exception being Lamar’s bye week).
Running Back
Though Lamar Jackson led the team in rushing, the overall rushing attack on the Ravens was quite potent last season. As in a record-breaking rushing attack with 3,296 total yards in 16 games. Therefore, the RBs on this team do bring that fantasy value. The problem is there are quite a few capable ones on this roster. The Ravens return Mark Ingram II, Gus Edwards, Justice Hill, and have added J.K. Dobbins to an already crowded backfield.
So, who is fantasy-relevant? This is a good question. At first glance, Ingram and Dobbins seem like the best candidates to provide fantasy value. Ingram was the RB1 last season and he is a proven veteran, so there is no reason why Dobbins would take that role as a rookie heading into his first NFL season.
Ingram finished eighth among fantasy RBs last season, getting 1,018 rush yards, 10 rush touchdowns, five rush yards per attempt, 67.9 rush yards per game, 26 receptions, 247 receiving yards, and five receiving touchdowns, finishing with a total of 1,265 scrimmage yards. That is the third-highest number of scrimmage yards during the 30-year-old’s nine-year career.
Despite many options to punch it in, the former Saint got 53.6 percent of rushes inside the 5 for Baltimore, resulting in eight rush touchdowns. Among rushers, the New Jersey native finished 14th in rush yards, 10th in rush yards per attempt, 13th in rush yards per game, and seventh in rush touchdowns.
Ingram has a rich role in this backfield and already proved he fits in the team’s system last season. With the presence of Lamar Jackson’s rushing abilities and other RBs likely getting some touches, Ingram is a low RB1 or high RB2 in fantasy. For redraft teams, he is a solid RB2.
The presence of J.K. Dobbins should only strengthen a backfield that was already robust. The Ohio State product brings incredible college stats and is a terrific player. The 21-year-old played three seasons for the Buckeyes, notching two 1,000-yard seasons and even a 2,000-yard season last year in which he had the third-most rushing yards in all of college football.
Overall, the Texas native accumulated 4,459 rush yards, 6.2 yards per rush, 38 rush touchdowns, 71 receptions, 645 receiving yards, and five receiving touchdowns in three college seasons. Bleacher Report credited Dobbins as a physical runner who can come through and make those huge plays. The only downside is it takes a while for him to reach an elite speed. Coincidentally, he was compared to his teammate Mark Ingram II.
There is no doubt Dobbins can have a huge role on the Ravens. The only problem is owners won’t know until during the season how big his role actually is and what the usage patterns are. On the depth chart, Dobbins fits in as the RB2. With Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram projected to take the lead rushing duties, this rookie should take a backseat for now and only merits WR3/flex consideration in redraft leagues until he proves otherwise.
With three rushers ahead of them, guys like Gus Edwards and Justice Hill could show some moments where they shine, but there are simply too far down the depth chart to provide consistent fantasy production.
Wide Receiver
The Ravens relied more on their rushing game and tight ends last season rather than their receiving corp and the stats showed it. The top receivers on this unit are Marquise Brown, Willie Snead IV, Miles Boykin, and rookie Devin Duvernay.
Brown is the WR1 on the team and the best candidate from this crew to supply decent fantasy numbers. The Oklahoma product ranked second to TE Mark Andrews in mostly all the receiving categories last season. The 2019 first-round pick finished with 46 receptions, 71/440 targets (16.1%), 584 yards, 12.7 yards per catch, and seven touchdowns in his rookie campaign.
“Hollywood” finished 45th among fantasy WRs last season. Because the Ravens are a run-first team, this lowers the value of most wide receivers on the team, especially when the rushing attack is so effective. Nevertheless, the 23-year-old is one of the top two receiving options on the team alongside Mark Andrews, so his value remains good compared to other WRs on the squad. Brown is a WR2 in fantasy and on redraft teams.
The rest of this unit is where the value starts to decrease. Willie Snead IV compiled modest stats in 2019, notching 31 receptions, 46/440 targets (10.5%), 339 yards, 10.9 yards per catch, and five touchdowns. He finished 72nd among fantasy WRs.
Miles Boykin also had a very modest finish to 2019, grabbing 13 receptions, 22/440 targets (5%), 198 yards, 15.2 yards per catch, and three touchdowns.
Finally, rookie Devin Duvernay out of Texas now enters the equation. In four seasons with the Longhorns, the 5’11” receiver had one 1,000-yard season and his senior season in 2019 was his best in which he finished fifth in receiving yards in all of college football. Overall, the Texas native accumulated 176 receptions, 2,468 yards, 14 yards per catch, and 16 touchdowns in his college tenure. Bleacher Report described the rookie as speedy and versatile, with his only downsides being limited to a slot role and having one year of elite production in college.
Heading into drafts, neither Snead, Boykin, or Duvernay should be considered anything more than depth in very deep leagues (think 16+ teams). This is because they will all be fighting for targets to seal the WR2 role. In addition, the Ravens are not a pass-happy team. They are more focused on pounding the ball and the only receivers that get decent production are Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews.
Look no further than their total WR targets last season. The team had the second-highest number of TE targets in the league at 180 and the overall lowest WR targets at 182. The second-lowest WR target rate was 209 in comparison. With most of the production coming from the other three skill units on the team, this does not bode well for Ravens receivers other than Hollywood Brown heading into the 2020 season.
Tight End
Sophomore tight end Mark Andrews broke out last season amidst the Ravens’ success. He paced the entire receiving corp in targets, receptions, yards, touchdowns, and yards per game. Overall, he compiled 64 receptions, 98/440 targets (22.3%), 852 yards, 13.3 yards per catch, and 10 touchdowns.
The 24-year-old finished second among fantasy tight ends in 2019, only behind Travis Kelce. This comes after he finished 16th in 2018, his rookie campaign. Andrews tied for the second-most touchdowns among receivers in the NFL last season.
Among NFL tight ends, the Oklahoma product ranked seventh in receptions, fifth in yards, and first in touchdowns. Andrews shouldn’t surprise anyone this season, and he is a top-three fantasy tight end for drafts in 2020. With such a rich role on the Ravens, set him as your TE1 in redraft leagues with confidence and don’t be hesitant to take him over other tight ends.
With Hayden Hurst gone, the backup tight end is Nick Boyle, who broke career records of his own last season, though in a modest fashion. The 2015 pick recorded career-highs in receptions (31), targets (43), yards (321), yards per catch (10.4), and touchdowns (2). The 27-year-old finished 38th among fantasy tight ends last season. With Mark Andrews taking up a lot of targets and the WRs also playing a factor in Boyle’s production, there is no reason to consider him for fantasy.
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