It’s a second straight AFC North matchup for the Ravens this week, as they take on the 1-3 Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5. The Steelers dealt with the hapless Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4, while Baltimore was left reeling from a 40-25 reverse at the hands of the Cleveland Browns.
To help gear you up for fantasy football in Week 5, I’ve gone over some of the Ravens you might have on your fantasy team. Here, I’ll offer my thoughts on players to start and players to sit this week. I will no longer be talking about Lamar Jackson, as he is pretty much dialed in as an auto-start at this point.
START – RB, Mark Ingram
Baltimore must be pleased with what they’ve seen out of Ingram so far this season. As a result, so must his fantasy owners. Ingram is outside the top 20 among running backs in terms of opportunities (carries and targets), yet is No.7 in rushing yards and fantasy points at the running back spot.
The Steelers throttled the Bengals rushing attack, such as it is, on Monday night. But they’ve been a defense to target with your running backs for the majority of the 2019 season. They allowed an average of 33.2 PPR points per game to backfields in the first three weeks of the season.
START – TE, Mark Andrews
In fantasy football, ideally, you’d prefer to start a tight end who you can pretty much guarantee is going to be on the field for a large majority of his teams’ snaps. Andrews is something of an exception.
Through the seasons first four weeks, Andrews is No. 3 among all tight ends with 16.9 fantasy points per game, despite playing less than 50% of the Baltimore offensive snaps. It helps that his quarterback looks to use Andrews whenever he does take the field. No tight end has a higher snap per target rate than Andrews.
Teams have targeted their tight ends an average of 5.5 times per game against the Steelers this season. But to be honest, they have only played one team in which a tight end is a primary option in their passing game (George Kittle in San Francisco). Given the weekly uncertainty surrounding the tight end in fantasy circles, Andrews is not a player you should be tossing aside carelessly.
SIT – WR, Marquise Brown
There are signs that a big game from Brown is just around the corner. He leads all wide receivers with 12 deep targets so far this season and is third at his position in total air yards. But after scoring 30.7 PPR points in Week 1, Brown has amassed just 29.7 over the last three games.
The Steelers have been no great shakes against wide receivers in 2019, allowing an average of almost 40 PPR points per game to the position through four weeks. If any Ravens wide receiver is in a place to cash in on this, it would be Brown considering his usage. Brown has a target per snap rate of 19.7%, which is the fourth-highest among all NFL wide receivers.
Brown has the 14th best cornerback matchup in Week 5, according to Pro Football Focus, going up against Joe Haden. But while Haden cannot hope to live with Brown in terms of sheer pace, the veteran has not been terrible in 2019. He is allowing an average line of 3.3 receptions and 37.5 yards per game, whilst only giving up 7.0 fantasy points per outing.
There is going to be a week where Brown goes absolutely bonkers. It may be this week, but waiting is pretty close to hoping. And in fantasy football, hope is not a plan or a strategy.
