Fantasy Sports

Fantasy Football 2013: Baltimore Ravens Early Preview

Ray Rice

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports


The Ravens are fresh off a surprising Super Bowl victory, beating the two best teams in the AFC in the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos. They also took down the allusive San Francisco 49ers in a crazy championship game. Despite their win, the Ravens did a money dump during this offseason, letting big-named guys like Anquan Boldin and Paul Kruger go to new teams. This could have been caused by the huge contract their quarterback Joe Flacco received. With all of these changes, how does it affect Ravens’ players in terms of fantasy football?

Quarterback: Joe Flacco is going to be a deceiving player in 2013. People are most likely going to remember how good he was in the playoffs, but they won’t remember how poor of a job he did to put up good fantasy numbers week after week. He just lost his favorite target in Anquan Boldin. While he still has Torrey Smith, he also has a backfield that needs its touches. I would lay off of Flacco in 2013.

Running Back: “Hey Diddle Diddle, Ray Rice up the middle” is the Ravens’ most valuable fantasy player. He is a top five running back in a PPR format and a top ten running back in standard formats. If I was in the back half of the first round, he is a name that immediately comes to mind for a guy I want to draft. There are better options than Rice because of the lack of carries he gets, but he still is a first or second round pick.

Wide Receiver: The one name you need to know heading into your draft is Torrey Smith. He is a great second receiver option in a standard format. He is one of the best deep threats in the entire league. Smith is going to thrive in a standard format, and he will see a lot more looks with Boldin out the door.

Tight End: If you’re not getting Rob Gronkowski or Jimmy Graham, you may as well wait for a tight end. There is no better tight end to wait for than Dennis Pitta. Pitta is a fantastic tight end to take in a later round. He is going to get his receptions and looks inside the red zone. If he is there in the tenth round, take him with confidence.

