2025 Draft Guide: Baltimore Ravens

Coaching History: Last Three Years

Head Coach: John Harbaugh (BAL ’22-’24)
Offensive Coordinator: Todd Monken (BAL ’23-24, N/A ’22)
2024 Record: 12-5

Team Summary

The Baltimore Ravens have a scheme fit to their best players – a mobile QB, strong RBs, and several talented TEs (not to mention the strong OL).  The Ravens run most of their plays with either multiple RBs or TEs on the field (12-, 21-, or 22-personnel).  This allows them to remain committed to the run, but find deep passes to punish their opponents when the box is stacked.

If you’re looking for a fantasy difference maker, the Ravens are one of the few teams that truly boast strong options at all positions.  Lamar Jackson is one of the top QB options with the dual threat ability to rack up points on the ground or through the air.  Derrick Henry, despite his age, is still one of the most feared RBs in the league, especially when he is able to build up momentum.  Teams would love to have either Mark Andrews or Isaiah Likely in their TE room, and Zay Flowers is one of the top slot WRs as well.  Given the strong history of offensive prowess over the last few years, Baltimore is a team that should be targeted heavily in fantasy drafts.

While Lamar Jackson has been known specifically for his legs, 2024 saw a huge leap in passing efficiency.  This created the perfect storm for fantasy scoring, and with the offense essentially intact from the previous year, there is a strong likelihood that this will continue.  Despite the Ravens being one of the most run heavy teams, don’t shy away from their passing game, as there will be plenty of scoring to go around.  Expect OC Todd Monken to continue to develop Jackson’s passing as opponents continue to try anything and everything to slow down the ground game.

2024 Ranks (2023 Rank)

• Points: 3th (4th)
• Yards: 1st (6th)
• Passing Attempts: 31st (30th)
• Passing Yards: 7th (21st)
• Passing TDs: 2nd (12th)
• Rushing Attempts: 2nd (1st)
• Rushing Yards: 1st (1st)
• Rushing TDs: 6th (4th)

2024 Positional Market Share

Baltimore know who its best runners are, and focuses on getting them as many carries as possible. Derrick Henry (58.7%) and Lamar Jackson (25.1%) account for over 70% of the team’s rushing attempts, leaving little work for other players.

Given Baltimore’s personnel usage, it should be no surprise that there are more TEs & RBs (3) above a 10% target share than there are WRs (2). The presence of multiple quality TEs cap the upside for each of Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely, but both are solid options for fantasy, given the volume that they each receive. If either TE were to miss time during the season, the other should be locked into lineups as a TE1. Zay Flowers is the clear WR1 on the team, earning 25.4% of targets, but his aDOT of 10.9 yards shows that most of his work is done near the line of scrimmage. Rashod Bateman, on the other hand, sees less volume (15.8%) but does his work down the field with an aDOT of 15.0 yards. Similarly, there is a clear difference between the receiving roles for TEs Mark Andrews (10.8 aDOT) and TE Isaiah Likely (8.8 aDOT). However, in this instance, Andrews actually earns a higher target share while he is in the game in addition to receiving deeper targets.

Depth Chart:

• QB: Lamar Jackson, Cooper Rush
• RB: Derrick Henry, Justice Hill, Keaton Mitchell, Rasheen Ali
• WR: Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, DeAndre Hopkins, Devontez Walker, Anthony Miller
• TE: Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar, Sam Pitz
  • Bold – Fantasy relevant
  • Highlighted – Priority target

Player Breakdowns

He’s good. Do we need much more than this? The veteran signal caller has proven year after year that he is one of the best QBs in fantasy football. Not only is he one of the best QB rushers of all time, but his passing has been improving throughout his career as well, adding a nice floor to go with the immense ceiling that he possesses. I can’t see an argument for letting Jackson slip beyond QB4, and even that feels late given the limited sample size of Jayden Daniels.

Is Derrick Henry human?  We may never know.  What we do know, is that you cannot apply the normal stereotypes of a Running Back’s career to outliers of Henry’s ilk.  The 32 year-old is set to once again lead an NFL backfield and dominate the RB carries.  In 2024, that 58.7% rushing share (don’t forget that Lamar Jackson will always get around 20-30% of the team’s carries) was good enough to earn 325 carries (2nd in the NFL) at a clip of 19.2 carries per game (4th).  That workload is extremely important, especially since Henry is a minimal receiving threat (21 total targets in 2024, with an average Depth of Target of -1 — yes, negative).  Henry racks up fantasy points by carrying the ball a ton, and converting at the goal line.  There is no reason to think this will change, and until he shows any signs of slowing down I would confidently draft Henry as a back end RB1.  He would be even safer if he was a consistent pass catcher, but it’s hard to knock one of the best bets to score double digit touchdowns year-in and year-out.

Justice Hill is locked in as the Ravens’ receiving back.  As the third option in the running game, he needs the receiving production to be useable, as he won’t get enough consistent carries to sustain fantasy production on the ground.  Luckily for Fantasy Football players, receiving production is more important than rushing production.  However, in the event of a Derrick Henry injury, the Ravens would be more likely to lean more heavily on Lamar Jackson and Keaton Mitchell than to give Justice Hill a full workload, so he doesn’t have significant upside, and should likely be avoided in all non-PPR leagues (and should be a LATE round pick in those leagues).

Mitchell is now fully recovered from a late 2023 ACL injury that sidelined him for most of 2024 and sapped quite a bit of his explosiveness upon his return late in the year.  Having an extra offseason to get back to 100% Mitchell is now locked in as the early down backup for Derrick Henry and he would be a solid RB2 or Flex within the Baltimore offense, in the event of a Derrick Henry injury.

Zay Flowers is a twitchy slot WR.  He isn’t the biggest, clocking in at only 5’9″ and 183 lbs, but his short area quickness is elite.  He was an obvious target in the game plan, as he accumulated many more targets in the first half of games than in the 2nd half (75 vs 40).  As Flowers continues to mature as a route runner, expect to see even more designed looks, providing a safe week-to-week floor — excluding week 18, Flowers accumulated double digit expected fantasy points every week starting in week 7.  The Baltimore offense is very run heavy, but due to Lamar Jackson’s ability to run, when they do pass, they have been able to be extremely efficient.  His WR25 price tag seems to be his floor, so Flowers should be a priority target as your WR3/FLEX.

Bateman is a solid WR, but not one that should be routinely relied on for fantasy purposes outside of deeper leagues.  His 9 TDs in 2024 boosted an otherwise forgettable season, which is an unusual descriptor when you put up 1,000 receiving yards.  However, Bateman played all 17 games, and earned only a 15% target share in an already low-volume role. Despite the solid totals, he only produced four WR1 weeks throughout the season.  Given the addition of another proven veteran (DeAndre Hopkins) for 2025, don’t expect any significant increase in usage, so any improvement would have to come in the form of efficiency. You won’t have to spend much capital to draft Bateman, though, so keep an eye on him in the late rounds of any Best Ball drafts.

Hopkins joins a contending Ravens team to add another reliable receiving weapon.  At his ceiling, Hopkins could eat into Bateman’s playing-time as a split end, but more likely he’ll be used to spell WRs during long drives, or in 3-WR sets.  Nelson Agholor, Tylan Wallace, and Diontae Johnson combined for about a 10% target share, which feels about right for the aging veteran.  You can monitor his usage, but don’t expect fantasy relevance without an injury to Flowers, Bateman or one of the TEs.

Andrews had a difficult season for managers in 2024.  He started extremely slowly, posting a total of 9 targets in his first 4 games (including two 0 point games in Week 3 and Week 4).  However, he finished as TE6 on the year, averaging over 13.5 PPR fantasy points per game over his last 13 games.  Looking at the split, it becomes clear that he must have been suffering from lingering effects of a preseason car accident (and potentially minor game relate injuries) in the first few weeks of the season.  You are much more likely to get the better version of Andrews who is coming into 2025 healthy. Prioritize him as a TE target if he makes it to the late 6th round in 12 team leagues. ** Isaiah Likely is dealing with a foot injury putting his Week 1 status in doubt. Expect Andrews to get off to a hot start as the Ravens ease Likely back into his normal role **

Isaiah Likely was the hottest name after a Thursday night, stand-alone game eruption in Week 1 in front of a national audience.  It helped that Mark Andrews got off to an especially slow start for the first few weeks.  However, Likely never really followed up on that Week 1 performance.  All told, he finished as TE16, which put him right in the pack for weekly consideration, but unable to separate from the other options.  Now in 2025, the roles are reversed, as Andrews heads into the season healthy (knock on wood), while Likely is dealing with a foot injury.  Expect a slow start to the season, with an eventual pace as a streaming TE option in the second half of the season.  If Andrews does miss time, Likely would vault into the conversation as a must start TE1 on expected volume alone.

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