Bills vs. Ravens Wide Receiver & Running Back Thoughts
By Dennis Moody
On Sunday at 1pm, it’s the Bills vs. Ravens to start off the season in Baltimore. Here’s how we think the major fantasy players will do.
First, we’ll start off with wide receivers and tight ends since the NFL is a passing league now. Then we’ll move on to running backs on the next slide.
Bills: WR/TE
Sammy Watkins could be in for a huge day. Pro Football Focus ranks the Ravens cornerbacks as the 28th best unit in the league. Jimmy Smith is coming off a down year and will need to step up his game if the Ravens want to shut down the Bills star receiver.
If the Ravens decide to double up Sammy Watkins all day, it could open it up for Robert Woods or Charles Clay to have a big day but neither are good options to start in most leagues Week 1.
Out of the other Bills receivers, Marquise Goodwin would have the most value followed by Greg Salas and Walt Powell. If any of these players are on your team, there’s probably already a problem or you’re just a huge Bills fan.
Clay projects as a bottom tier starting tight end in 10-12 team leagues or a high-end backup. If you have a better player or a better matchup on your roster at tight end, it might make sense to consider leaving Clay on your bench.
Ravens: WR/TE
The Ravens best wide receiver last year Steve Smith Sr. was injured after only seven games which was a shame. In three of the first five games he played he put up well over 100 yards with 150 Week 2, 186 Week 3 and 137 Week 5. He is expected to be healthy enough to play in the game.
While he is up there in age I would never bet against the fiery Smith. He’s a tough guy who works hard and always seems to find a way to get the job done. He is startable as a WR3 or in a flex spot.
The other three players likely to see the most targets are Mike Wallace, Breshad Perriman, and Kamar Aiken. Wallace is listed as the starter on the Ravens website but Aiken showed he could be productive for the team last season when Steve Smith Sr. was out of the lineup. Aiken put up 944 total yards for the season and over the last four weeks of the year he averaged over six receptions for 90 yards per game.
Perriman was drafted in the first round a year ago but missed his rookie year with a knee injury. It will be interesting to see if he can play a big part in the offense and stay healthy since he injured himself again earlier this preseason.
Neither Wallace, Perriman or Aiken are great starts this week against a tough Buffalo secondary but we’d favor Aiken to put up the best stats of the three if you had to play one of them.
The Ravens don’t have any startable tight ends in fantasy this year. They have several players at the position and they are likely to rotate in and spread out the targets. Those players include Dennis Pitta, Maxx Williams, and Crockett Gillmore .
That’s it for the receiver and tight ends. Let’s move on to running backs on the next slide.
Next: How Will The Running Backs Do?