Thursday Night Football Fantasy Start/Sit: Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews, and Other Options Tonight
The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Baltimore Ravens players heading into their matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals to help you craft a winning lineup.
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Lamar Jackson, QB
There’s no greater red flag in fantasy when the real-life team is having success and doesn’t need your fantasy player to contribute in a big way for that to happen.
That’s more a line of thought I take for skill position players, but it’s true for the Ravens with Lamar Jackson right now.
They’ve won four straight with him under center, and his completion count has declined in each of those contests (18-17-14-13). He had the monster return in Miami (four touchdowns), but he’s accounted for just one score since.
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Potentially more concerning than the limited scoring equity is the fact that his 11 carries over the past two weeks have gained just 21 yards.
Is he hesitant? Is less being asked of him? Is the hope to work him up to full strength in an effort to make noise in January?
For fantasy managers, I hope not. A matchup with the defense is optional. Bengals should give us the answers we need: fail in this spot, and we have to have a serious conversation. For now, I’m downgrading him in the ranks, but not enough to bench him for a Jacoby Brissett type that you added off the wire.
Jackson is a Tier 2 QB for me, a range that stretches down to QB8.
Derrick Henry, RB
Derrick Henry punched in two short touchdowns against the Jets last week, but 3.0 yards per carry?
Lamar Jackson hasn’t shown the same upside with his legs, and I think that’s condensing the defensive attention to the middle of the field. Realistically, we can’t complain: Henry has 18+ carries in six straight games, and you’re playing that profile this time of year without a second thought.
I love that he’s caught multiple passes in three straight (one such game this season prior). If we can get that to sustain OR the rushing efficiency to be more consistent, I think we are looking at a top 10 back over the next few weeks (two Bengal games and the Steelers on extended rest next week).
You’ll be starting him in the fantasy playoffs, but matchups against the Patriots and Packers could prove to be a monster problem.
DeAndre Hopkins, WR
The good news is that DeAndre Hopkins matched a season high in receptions on Sunday against the Jets, and that Zay Flowers was the only Raven with more catches in the victory.
The bad news?
It only took two catches to check those boxes.
This offense is begging for a player to step up next to Flowers in the pass game, but until we see someone (even one of the TEs) actually do it, we can’t justify playing any of the players in that mix.
For the record, I think both tight ends are more likely to score fantasy points in a given week than Hopkins, and that leaves him outside of my rosterable tier. This is obviously as good as things get.
Rashod Bateman, WR
Rashod Bateman (ankle) is said to be nearing a return to action, but he hasn’t been nearly productive enough to justify rostering him while he works through this injury.
His yards per route (0.89) and air yards per game (44.7) are easily pacing for career lows, trends I don’t see reversing any time soon. Zay Flowers looks the part of a WR1, and with a pair of viable tight ends, there’s not enough volume to chase for a player that has yet to really prove capable of doing so.
The Bateman role isn’t worth chasing, either. You can find week-to-week upside that far exceeds what you’re wise to expect from the fourth option in this run-oriented offense.
Zay Flowers, WR
I’m not going to sell you on Zay Flowers as a league winner, but it’s this type of player that allows the league winners to make a difference.
In an era of variance outside of the truly elite, you generally know what you’re getting from Baltimore’s WR1. During this five-game win streak, Flowers has scored 11.1-14.1 PPR points in every contest, and the output essentially ends up looking the same, even if we get there in a variety of ways.
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You’re going to get 4-6 catches for 55-75 yards most weeks, and the quality of opponent really hasn’t mattered. Over that stretch, there have been games against the Browns/Vikings, but also the Jets/Dolphins/Bears.
I’d love to see some spike potential in a matchup like this, but he hasn’t seen an end zone target since Week 1. Mark Andrews and Derrick Henry account for all of the quality usage in close to the goal line, and that leaves us without much of a ceiling.
An elevated floor is appealing, but not exciting. Eat your vegetables and play Flowers: if the entree is good, the meal will be a success.
Isaiah Likely, TE
As much as I like the profile of Isaiah Likely, there’s no reason to hold out hope in 2025.
He continues to split the work with Mark Andrews, and I’m not even sure that if they were one player, I’d fully trust it. Likely doesn’t have more than three receptions in a game this season and has cleared 17 yards just once.
I really want to believe in the player and am holding out hope that he finds his way to a breakout season, but those hopes are now for 2026. Likely has scored twice in the past 13 months, and based on current usage patterns, it’s unlikely to change any time soon.
Mark Andrews, TE
Mark Andrews had a very catchable end zone target on Sunday against the Jets, but he couldn’t convert, and that doomed him as a touchdown-or-bust option at the position.
Sure, I could highlight his 20-12 edge in routes over Isaiah Likely, but does it matter? Both saw three targets, and you’re doing nothing but chasing a score with the 30-year-old at this point.
Over the past two seasons, he’s scored on 16 of his 88 catches, making him one of the better per-reception producers at the position, but not a role that carries much in the way of consistency.
He’s a viable option this week because of the cushy matchup and implied point total for the Ravens. That train of thought holds for the next few weeks (they get an extended week ahead of playing the Steelers next week and then go to Cincinnati in Week 15) and that makes him a reasonable stream-and-hold, but if you’re rostering him and thinking you have a “safe” option or the position figured out, I think you’re wrong.
If value opens up on the wire for any reason in your league, I wouldn’t hesitate to make the move.
