Multi-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson undoubtedly makes his teammates better every time he steps on the field. Unfortunately for fantasy football players, the star quarterback will miss yet another game due to his lingering hamstring injury, leaving Tyler Huntley in line to start the Baltimore Ravens’ Week 8 tilt against the Chicago Bears. The fantasy production of Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers and other Ravens standouts has taken a nosedive in recent weeks without Jackson healthy, which begs the question of whether they’re still lineup-worthy come Sunday.
Can fantasy managers trust Ravens stars like Derrick Henry and Zay Flowers in Week 8 with Lamar Jackson ruled out?
Analysis
When Lamar Jackson plays, the Ravens are a true force to be reckoned with on the offensive side of the ball. In three weeks with the quarterback fully healthy, the team averaged 415 yards and an astounding 37 points per game. However, he went down with a hamstring issue in Week 4 against the Chiefs and things haven’t been nearly the same since. Baltimore gained 360 yards and scored 20 points in the game Jackson sustained the injury, but has now been held to a combined 13 points over the last two contests with an average of 251.5 yards per game. It’s clear backup quarterback Cooper Rush could not run this offense, which is part of why the Ravens now turn to Tyler “Snoop” Huntley for Week 8 with the usual starter sidelined once more coming out of the bye week.
Huntley played for the Ravens for four seasons between 2020-24 before spending last year with the Dolphins. Now, he’s back in Baltimore without much fantasy football appeal as a standalone starter, though he does have one of the strangest Pro Bowl selections of all time to his name. Across 14 career games as a starter, he’s completed 62.9% of his passes for 158.4 yards per game with eight touchdown passes to nine interceptions. That’s far from impressive production, but it’s not like Cooper Rush has played better football — he’s completed 64.5% of his throws for 125.5 yards per game and four interceptions without a touchdown, and he also racked up just 72 yards in one of his two appearances with three picks in the other.
Huntley does bring something of a familiarity with the Ravens’ system under John Harbaugh that Rush, a new signee this year, does not. That counts for something, and Huntley’s also more of a rushing threat as well with an average of 36.4 yards and four touchdowns on the ground over his 14 career starts. That does help the outlook for the option game as well.
It’s tough to project a great game for Zay Flowers or any other Ravens pass catcher this week, so the fantasy ceiling remains quite limited. Flowers averages 13.5 FPPG and tallied finished of 12.2 and 8.6 PPR points in two weeks with Rush under center, so at the very least he seems to have a stable floor due to his target volume. The third-year wideout saw five and 10 targets in those two games with five and six receptions, respectively. He should remain the focal point of the passing attack with the eighth-best target share of any player at the position this season, but touchdown upside remains low. He’s a player to pencil in as a FLEX if you have to, but there are certainly more exciting options. As for other pass catchers though, the trio of Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews, and Isaiah Likely are all players to avoid in Week 8.
The good news is that Derrick Henry does still look like a fantasy starter come Sunday. While he’s averaging just 12.2 FPPG, his fewest since his second year in the NFL back in 2017, the star running back can still produce in Week 8. Despite a loss just before the bye week, Henry looked more like himself with 24 rushes for 122 yards. It served as a much-needed return to form after four straight rough outings for fantasy purposes, and his legs should be a little more fresh coming off the extra rest of the bye. With a backup quarterback under center once more, fantasy managers can expect the Ravens to lean on the run early in this contest, which also comes against a soft defense — on a per game basis, the Bears allow the fifth-most rushing yards to running backs (110.8), the second-most touchdowns (0.50), and the ninth-most fantasy points (18.0).
The Ravens’ game plan is likely predictable, but Chicago hasn’t bottled the run well this season. Between the projected volume, a positive matchup and the additional rushing threat of Huntley potentially helping ease some defensive pressure on Henry, the star halfback belongs in Week 8 lineups without much second thought.
