Baker Mayfield Week 1 Outlook - Buccaneers at Saints

By Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros), Tue, Sep 8th 2020, 12:44pm EDT

It was a bad season for everyone involved on the Browns last year, and Mayfield was no exception. The crazy part about this matchup, however, is that Mayfield has thrown for 342 or more yards in three of his four career games against the Ravens. He's also thrown seven touchdowns in those four games, so he hasn't been useless like many quarterbacks have against John Harbaugh's defense. As crazy as it may sound, Mayfield had two of the top six quarterback performances the Ravens allowed last year. That's not saying much, as they allowed just one quarterback more than 15.8 fantasy points, but it's still noteworthy. The Ravens defense is loaded with talent, though losing Earl Thomas is going to hurt. The Ravens have gone from Tony Jefferson and Thomas, to now starting DeShon Elliott and Chuck Clark. Their cornerback unit is one of the best in the game, and they held Odell Beckham to just six catches for 64 yards over the two games combined last year. Knowing Jarvis Landry is coming off hip surgery, the top two options that Mayfield has may struggle against these cornerbacks. Under Kevin Stefanski, we should be expecting a run-heavy attack, though that will need to be abandoned if they fall behind, like the line suggests. There are too many unknowns here to start Mayfield with any confidence in this matchup, especially considering the way this team looked last year. If you want to play Mayfield, do it in tournaments, as the over/under is higher than expected.