The Ravens used a third-round pick in the NFL Draft on wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane out of USC, but the rookie’s NFL debut was cut short due to injury. Lane could be coming back soon, though, so should you get ahead of the crowd and stash him on your fantasy football team before Week 6?
Let’s dive in and take a look at Lane’s path to this point, his injury, and his fantasy outlook. If he’s available in your league and you are in need of wide receiver help, he’s one of the available options with the highest ceilings of the widely-available options on the waiver wire.
Ja’Kobi Lane’s Background and Injury
Ja’Kobi Lane was one of the stars of the team’s offseason workouts and training camp, providing plenty of optimism surrounding his role and potential production coming into the season.
Lane began the season as one of the starting receivers in the Ravens’ offense, but he only played 27 snaps before leaving with a wrist injury. He finished the game with one catch for 11 yards on his three targets and had a short touchdown overturned in the second quarter on a holding penalty.
He was diagnosed with a fractured wrist and underwent surgery right away. He was placed on injured reserve after Week 1, and after missing four games, his first eligible week to return is this week. His return is not guaranteed at this point, but it is within the realm of possibility.
On Wednesday, NFL Network reported that Lane will return to practice this week and could even suit up this weekend against the Browns. Even if he does need another week before being activated, the rookie appears to be close to returning to action.
Ja’Kobi Lane Fantasy Football Outlook
Lane was set to be one of the team’s top three receivers along with Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman. While Flowers has been very good with 26 catches for 405 yards and two touchdowns in four games, there is still room for complementary receivers behind him. Bateman has 16 catches in his five games for 233 yards and a touchdown.
Since he is a very big target at six-foot-four, Lane could be a great asset in the red zone, and he provides a great contrast to the smaller, shiftier Flowers, who is only five-foot-nine.
With Lamar Jackson (ankle) also possibly returning this week, the Ravens offense will be ready to get into a good groove with some favorable matchups over the next several weeks. In Week 6, they take on the Browns, followed by the Bengals in Week 7. In Week 8, they visit the Bills in what should be another epic showdown and then have a quick turnaround for Week 9’s Thursday Night Football matchup with the Jaguars.
With Jackson and Lane both potentially nearing their returns, adding Lane from the waiver wire is an excellent move, since he could emerge as a top rookie receiver in the coming weeks.
The Bottom Line: Add Ja’Kobi Lane in All Formats
Lane may play this week or he may need a little longer to ramp back up. Playing him this week would be a high-risk move in most formats until we get a clearer view of his workload, but he definitely has enough long-term upside to be worth adding in all season-long formats.
If he is in action this week, he could be a very interesting bargain sleeper play at only $3,400 for this week’s DFS contests like the NFL $2.75M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st] on DraftKings. He would still be high-risk, but at that extremely low salary he would also come loaded with boom-or-bust upside.
