Fantasy Football Player Notes

Flowers should immediately be starting in three wide receiver sets in Baltimore opposite Rashod Bateman and Odell Beckham Jr. in the Ravens' new-look passing attack under Todd Monken. With Greg Roman gone, Baltimore should usher in a new era of football with Lamar Jackson's arm doing the talking. The drastic changes incoming for the Ravens could open some eyes. The first could be the offensive pace and play volume, which means more passing attempts and targets for these receiving options. In three of Monken's last four seasons as an offensive mastermind, he's ranked inside the top 12 (eighth, 11th, fourth) in neutral script pace. Over that span, he was also top-five in passing attempts twice. If Beckham doesn't look like his old self and Bateman doesn't fully bounce back from last season's foot injury woes, Flowers could be the number two target in this aerial attack. Flowers can play inside and the perimeter as a receiver that can win at every level of the field. Flowers is a WR4 that can handily outplay his ADP if things break his way.

Rashod Bateman looked like a receiver on his way to a breakout campaign before his season was derailed by a foot sprain in Week 4 and ultimately ended in Week 8 with a LisFranc injury. In Weeks 1-3, he was the WR34 in fantasy points per game with an 18.8% target share, a 30.3% air yard share, and 3.14 yards per route run. Bateman was also only a 72.7% route per dropback player in that stretch. Bateman's talent is real, but he needs his health to comply. This could be a breaking point season. The team signed Odell Beckham Jr. and drafted Zay Flowers in the first round of the NFL Draft. This will be the best collection of weapons Lamar Jackson has ever had, but that also means it's the most competition for targets Bateman has dealt with during his time in Baltimore. Bateman has the talent to still emerge as the number one receiver in this offense and compete weekly for the team lead in targets with Mark Andrews. He's a WR3/4 that could easily finish as a WR2.

The last time we saw Beckham Jr., he evoked thoughts of yesteryear when Beckham Jr. took the league by storm. While Beckham Jr. was on his way to possibly a stout Super Bowl before injury struck again, we're likely never seeing prime Beckham Jr. again. During his final seven regular season games with the Rams, Beckham Jr. saw a 15.1% target share, 20% target per route run rate, and produced 1.25 yards per route run. His five receiving touchdowns in this span help gloss over the fact that he was a mediocre receiver per efficiency numbers in that stretch. Beckham can continue to be a red zone weapon assuming full health in Baltimore with Lamar Jackson, but the days of valuing him as anything more than a WR4/5 are over. I'll happily draft Rashod Bateman and Zay Flowers over Beckham, and they will go behind Beckham in many draft rooms. Beckham will need outlier touchdown production to surpass my expectations for him in 2023.