In recent history, the Baltimore Ravens have been the crypt keepers for fantasy football wide receivers – it’s where they go to die. The Ravens have been a stellar organization because they consistently draft players whose skill sets fit their system, yet wide receiver remains an elusive hit-and-miss proposition with more misses than hits.
The Ravens have loaded up on players who were high draft prospects coming out of college that have had mixed results as pros, including tripling down in the offseason to give Lamar Jackson the array of weapons he has been missing over the years. Can this group turn a weakness for most of the last decade into a strength?
Odell Beckham Jr.
A first-round pick in 2014, OBJ appeared fast-tracked for a Hall-of-Fame career. In his first three seasons with the New York Giants, he caught 288 passes for 4,222 yards and 35 touchdowns. Since then, his volatile personality has helped run his way out of both New York and Cleveland, and he has missed 29 of them due to injuries over the last three years (50 games), including a second ACL tear that cost him the entirety of 2022.
He remains a big name, but the production hasn’t followed his meteoric impact from earlier in his career.
Zay Flowers
The 22nd pick of the 2023 draft, Flowers has many of the same traits as Hollywood Brown, who became the first Raven since 2016 to post a 1,000-yard season (2021) – and was immediately traded the Arizona Cardinals.
Flowers will likely be a Day 1 starter and will use his speed and route running to get separation and do damage in the open field. Brown showed what a dynamic slot receiver while working with Jackson, and Flowers will get the chance to replicate that production in new coordinator Todd Monken’s system.
Rashod Bateman
A first-round pick in 2021, Bateman has battled injuries of own, missing 15 of 34 games and not lighting the town on fire when he has played – 61 catches for 800 yards and three touchdowns in 19 games. He has downfield ability (averaged 19 yards a catch last year), but until he shows he can play a full season without missing time, his fantasy stock is stagnant, making Bateman more of a dice roll on upside than a proven track record.
Devin Duvernay
A Swiss Army Knife for the Ravens, in three seasons (46 games), he has caught 90 passes for 880 yards and five touchdowns, rushed 23 times for 204 yards and a touchdown, and has been the primary special teams returner – scoring two more touchdowns. He does a lot of things but doesn’t do enough as a receiver to garner much interest from fantasy managers, except those desperately scouring the waiver wire for a warm body for one week.
Nelson Agholor
A first-round pick in 2015 by Philadelphia, Agholor is officially a journeyman (the Ravens are his fourth team in five years). He has been durable – missing just nine games over the last seven years – and has caught 30 or more passes in each of those seasons. However, he doesn’t stand out with any consistency. In eight NFL seasons, he has 50 or more receptions just twice, more than 500 receiving yards three times and more than four touchdowns twice. He’ll never be a star and may be battling James Proche, Tylan Wallace and Andy Isabella just to make the roster.
Fantasy football outlook
The biggest problem with the Ravens’ collection of highly drafted wide receivers is, at its core, Baltimore has been a run-first team for years, and its top receiver isn’t a wide receiver – it’s tight end Mark Andrews. Under Monken, expect more willingness to pass.
Flowers should be ranked at the top of the group, because there is production to be had for a slot receiver in this scheme. Beckham will likely be the first player drafted in fantasy leagues because of name recognition and the belief some fantasy managers maintain in rekindling magic that rarely happens among aging wide receivers. Both are borderline WR4/No. 5 options and may make appearances in your flex spot at times.
Bateman has the talent to make a difference, but his injury history is concerning, and you shouldn’t have him above a WR5/No. 6, depending on the league size.
Duvernay and Agholor both have positives to their games, but their production is too spotty to warrant being drafted.
The Ravens have done a lot of things right over the years in terms of putting together rosters and developing young players, but that hasn’t happened at wide receiver as the position has been a revolving door. Despite making wholesale changes in the offseason, this still has the look of a middle-of-the-road group of receivers capable of big individual weeks but not consistent production throughout a full season.
