Buffalo Bills

Bills vs. Ravens Wide Receiver & Running Back Thoughts

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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On Sunday at 1pm, it’s the Bills vs. Ravens to start off the season in Baltimore. Here’s how we think the major fantasy players will do.

First, we’ll start off with wide receivers and tight ends since the NFL is a passing league now. Then we’ll move on to running backs on the next slide.

Bills: WR/TE

Sammy Watkins could be in for a huge day. Pro Football Focus ranks the Ravens cornerbacks as the 28th best unit in the league. Jimmy Smith is coming off a down year and will need to step up his game if the Ravens want to shut down the Bills star receiver.

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If the Ravens decide to double up Sammy Watkins all day, it could open it up for Robert Woods or Charles Clay to have a big day but neither are good options to start in most leagues Week 1.

Out of the other Bills receivers, Marquise Goodwin would have the most value followed by Greg Salas and Walt Powell. If any of these players are on your team, there’s probably already a problem or you’re just a huge Bills fan.

Clay projects as a bottom tier starting tight end in 10-12 team leagues or a high-end backup. If you have a better player or a better matchup on your roster at tight end, it might make sense to consider leaving Clay on your bench.

Ravens: WR/TE

The Ravens best wide receiver last year Steve Smith Sr. was injured after only seven games which was a shame. In three of the first five games he played he put up well over 100 yards with 150 Week 2, 186 Week 3 and 137 Week 5. He is expected to be healthy enough to play in the game.

While he is up there in age I would never bet against the fiery Smith. He’s a tough guy who works hard and always seems to find a way to get the job done. He is startable as a WR3 or in a flex spot.

The other three players likely to see the most targets are Mike Wallace, Breshad Perriman, and Kamar Aiken. Wallace is listed as the starter on the Ravens website but Aiken showed he could be productive for the team last season when Steve Smith Sr. was out of the lineup. Aiken put up 944 total yards for the season and over the last four weeks of the year he averaged over six receptions for 90 yards per game.

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Perriman was drafted in the first round a year ago but missed his rookie year with a knee injury. It will be interesting to see if he can play a big part in the offense and stay healthy since he injured himself again earlier this preseason.

Neither Wallace, Perriman or Aiken are great starts this week against a tough Buffalo secondary but we’d favor Aiken to put up the best stats of the three if you had to play one of them.

The Ravens don’t have any startable tight ends in fantasy this year. They have several players at the position and they are likely to rotate in and spread out the targets. Those players include Dennis Pitta, Maxx Williams, and Crockett Gillmore .

That’s it for the receiver and tight ends. Let’s move on to running backs on the next slide.

How will the Bills and Ravens runnings backs do on Sunday?

Bills: RBs

At running back LeSean McCoy is the only back you can feel comfortable starting for the Bills at this point. Reggie Bush should get a few carries and a couple balls thrown to him but Rex Ryan has hinted that he won’t be used as much as Karlos Williams in an attempt to keep him healthy and also to keep him fresh for punt return duty.

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Mike Gillislee is good for some big runs from time to time but he won’t get enough carries to make him a viable option. Jonathan Williams, if healthy, might see more carries than most people are expecting. Out of all their backs, he is the one who runs the most similar style to Karlos Williams and the Bills may use him between the tackles.

It’s best to avoid Buffalo running backs this week unless you have McCoy. If you have Shady on your team, we suspect you’ll be very happy with his production in the game.

Ravens: RBs

Many were surprised when the Ravens cut running back Justin Forsett who just two years ago put up 1,266 yards on the ground. Ravens fans felt a sense of relief when they realized the team and Forsett planned this so that they could adjust their roster to accommodate some injuries. They re-signed Forsett shortly after and gave him the potential to make $100,000 more as a thank you for not exploring his options on the market.

The Ravens will go with a running back by committee with Forsett getting the most carries, followed by Terrence West and Javorius Allen. The only one you should be playing this week is Justin Forsett. There are better flex options than West or Allen until the carry distribution between the three becomes clearer.

Those are our thoughts on the Bills and Ravens players for fantasy football Week 1. What do you think about them? Let us know in the comments section below.

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