WITH "THE FANTASY TYPHOON"
THE BALTIMORE RAVENS REAL LIFE AND FANTASY
The Super Bowl defending champion Baltimore Ravens are officially
in flux. A lot of offseason hype and roster moves have been taking place in
Baltimore. It is hard to win back to back championships in the NFL. Ozzie
Newsom is a genius and you still have to trust that they will be a competitive
team in 2013. In 2012 they let Cam Cameron walk in the middle of the season and
replaced him with Jim Caldwell. Jim had never called plays before and the team
got stronger and won the SHIP. Ozzie makes brilliant decisions so Ravens fans
you have to trust the organization right about now. A lot of key personnel
changes will make this Ravens team a whole new group going into 2013.
The Ravens operate one the more simplified offenses in the
NFL, The Traditional Pro Style or Base Pro Offense. The majority of the 32 NFL
teams run this same scheme. Its how football was meant to be played until a
couple years ago. A lot of teams are now switching to a more pass happy scheme
and are dropping the Traditional Pro. The Traditional Pro is designed to get
the running back the ball and throw to the WR1 on passing downs with viable TE
help. It’s not designed to have a lot of fantasy friendly personnel. This
scheme is where we will find our 2 starting RB’s for fantasy purposes. These
teams usually try and stack their defenses with superior talent so that the
offense can play that “who makes the first mistake loses” type of match up.
These are low stat producing offenses for the quarterback. The QB can be a top
talent but they still won’t crack the top 10 for fantasy. It’s not the QB’s
fault it’s by design. The focus in camp and preseason and even the playbook
is designed to run the ball to keep this offense on schedule. Haven’t you heard
“Hay diddle diddle Ray Rice up the middle”
The RB is the
position that you want to target here for fantasy purposes. Ray Rice is the
vocal point and the team is designed around him. Although Flacco has earned the
big bucks this scheme could easily change in training camp or next year, but
for now; I have to go with what they show me (I will automatically update if I
sense any future training camp scheme changes). The RB’s in this scheme average
1,200+/7+ easily. This is considered top tier 1 production in fantasy settings.
This is what you want. Actually you want 2 of these Traditional Pro Style running
backs in your fantasy lineups on Sunday (I will reveal more when we get to the
tier section of this draft booklet). These RB’s usually make better for
standard settings because they don’t catch many passes out of the backfield.
The concern that I have been hearing on twitter with Rice is the Bernard Pierce
factor. While I love Bernard Pierce and I actually think he is more talented
than Rice this is still Rice’s backfield. There are more carries to go around
in this scheme than others so Pierce’s effect won’t be noticed like twitter is
claiming. Rice is who you want to target in 2013 redraft formats. Bernard
Pierce will be an overvalued handcuff in 2013 drafts unless Rice is injured.
Make every attempt to select Rice while your league mates will worry too much
about Pierce’s touches and let him fall to the second round. This is good news
to you. DYNASTY – Bernard Pierce will
overtake Rice in the future but you will have to be patient with this process.
I easily see the Ravens letting Rice walk and rolling with Pierce when Rice’s
contract nears end but that is another 3-5 years from now. As you can see
during this offseason the Ravens will let you go in a heartbeat. The transition
from this team being Rice’s to Flacco’s is happening right in front of your
face. This means the offense will shift from a running team to a passing team
in the upcoming years. Owning Flacco as a backup QB is not a bad idea in DYNASTY formats. The shift is coming and you’ve been warned.
The QB in this
scheme is not who we want to target for our 2013 redraft championship rosters.
His duties mainly entail in handing the ball off to the RB and managing the
game. Think Josh Freeman, Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel (KC) because these are
also Traditional Pro-Style Offense QB’s. With that being said I will not waste
a lot of space on Joe Flacco because I covered him enough above. The average QB
season ending stats is 3,700+/22+ this is not top tier QB numbers. Let your
league mates draft Flacco or use him for back up duties.
The WR 1 in this
scheme is who you want to target for your 2013 drafts. Passes are rarely thrown
in this scheme but when they are the WR1 is the target. The WR 1 has to be able
to run the complete route tree. He has to be able to beat the consistent
double coverage that the defenses will be giving him. This worries me about
Torrey Smith. The complete route tree and beating the double team consistently is NOT
showing up on film. Now that Anquan Boldin is gone Torrey HAS to step up his
route running and double team skills. Trust me he will be given EVERY
OPPORTUNITY to prove his worth but can he do it. This situation is the one to
watch this year in Baltimore especially if they sign a route running rookie.
The WR 1 in this scheme is a 1,000+/6+ position (which is WR2 value for you on
Sunday) but Torrey has yet to be a 1,000 yard receiver. He’s getting the TD’s but
leaving a lot of receiving yards left on the field. DYNASTY
– I am concerned for Torrey Smith going forward. He could come through but it’s
been 2 years already. Well, in most cases the 3rd year for receivers
is the breakout year. It could very easily be that for Torrey just keep your
eyes open. Watch this rookie draft closely. I will give the word through my
weekly “Wake of the week” emails to give you the heads up if and when it’s time
to bail out. As for now carry on.
The WR2 on this team
is Jacoby Jones. He’s not on our draft radar. This will be a real training camp
battle this year. This is something to watch folks. Usually roster spots are
given more than earned in the NFL. This one will be earned though. You have Jacoby Jones,
Tommy Streeter, and Tandon Doss all applying for WR 2 duty (and maybe even WR1
duty). Before I can give you my synopsis I have to first review more tape on
these receivers. I can tell you this much, I don’t like Jacoby Jones chances.
The WR2 spot is fantasy worthy in this scheme but only as a WR3 on your roster.
Like I said earlier this situation is different that all of the other WR2’s in
the Traditional Pro-Style Offense. There are just too many receiver question
marks for me at this point and time for the Ravens. I am almost certain that
Ozzie will draft a top notch receiver in this draft. I just have to say “WHO
KNOWS” at this point. I try not to speculate because speculation loses you
games on Sunday but I will certainly find out.
The TE in this
scheme is viable in fantasy. Especially as far as the Ravens are concerned. The
shortcomings of Torrey blended with the question marks of Jacoby Jones and
Tommy Streeter coming into camp leave this offense wide open for Dennis Pita in
2013. He could post 850+/8+ this season which is high tier 2 fantasy value. This
makes Pita fantasy championship roster worthy. Pita should be a late round gem
this season. DYNASTY- While the team is
transitioning from Anquan a lot of targets are going to come to Pita this year.
He’s talented enough to beat his man and get separation and he already has the
trust from Flacco. The only thing in dynasty is once they get their 2 WR situation
worked out Pita will fall back to tier 3 production. Buy low now and I will let
you know when to sell high. “THE ART OF DOMINANCE” CLICK HERE.
ROOKIE
DRAFT WATCH AND TRAINING CAMP BATTLES
I Follow Beat Writer Aaron Wilson for All of my Ravens Training
Camp and Team News
To Follow "CLICK HERE"
As you can see the RB position is the only one that
has no question marks behind it. No training camp controversy whatsoever. If
you hear that Bernard Pierce is blah, and doing blah don’t react. It’s Rice’s
team, for now. One thing is clear is the WR’s for the future of the Ravens are
in flux. The loss of Anquan Boldin was HUGE. This could go numerous ways. Tommy
Streeter could be the man (DYNASTY), Torrey could man up, or a rookie could
come into camp and snatch the #1 duties (DYNASTY ROOK DRAFTS) and make Smith a
deep threat only. I know one thing, I do not expect Jacoby Jones to get it
done. Remember that Torrey will be given the next 2 years to man up and this is
not a training camp battle no matter what type of training camp chatter you
hear. The true training camp battle in Baltimore will be for the #2 duties and
the slot.
FANTASY DRAFT
WATCH 2013
QB Joe Flacco – 3,700+/22+ - Tier 3-4 production. Not on our
target list.
RB Ray Rice – 1,200+/7+ – This is your guy mainly
in standard. You may catch him in round 2 as the Bernard Pierce news gets
louder.
WR Torrey Smith - 1,000+/6+ - Target for 2013 only
and my tier ranking will tell you when and where to draft him.
TE Dennis Pita– 850+/8+ Top tier 2 TE production in
2013. The future is still up in the air Dynasty owners.
PK Justin Tucker - Excellent kicker and can be
had in the last round.
DST not yet
rated.
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