2017 Fantasy Impact: Jeremy Maclin Signs with Ravens

Jeremy Maclin has signed a two year deal with the Baltimore Ravens, where he will likely become Joe Flacco’s new number one target. So now that Maclin has joined the Ravens, what does that mean for the rest of the skill position players? How will this affect the running backs or the other wide receivers or even Flacco for that matter. So lets take a quick look at the Ravens skill position players and see how things are going to change for them.

Good news is I don’t think this impacts anyone in a negative way at all. The guys that get the biggest bumps are Flacco and Maclin himself. But before we get to them lets look at some of the other guys first. First lets consider the running backs, I don’t think the signing of Maclin has any impact on them. They are not going to run less because of Maclin and I don’t think his skills are enough to make it any easier for the running backs with defenses adjusting to Maclin being on the field. As for the tight ends, there was no real value here after the Ravens released Pitta. It is looking like the Ravens will be a tight end by committe until someone steps up and take the lead in that group. Again the Maclin signing neither helps nor hurts the tight ends here.

Now lets talk about the wide receiver corp. Mike Wallace was looking like the new number one wide receiver until Maclin signed, but despite the likely demotion to wide receiver two I don’t think his value changes much if at all. Some will argue that Breshad Perriman is the loser in the group but I don’t think so. His value might not be as high anymore but I still expect a jump in production from him. The reason why I still expect that jump is because Steve Smith retried and Dennis Pitta was recently released. Last year those two combined for 156 receptions for 1,582 yards and seven touchdowns. There is no way all those number go to Maclin, but most will. Most of remainder will likely go to Perriman. Meaning there will be plenty of offense to make Maclin, Wallace and Perriman all draftable wide receivers for this upcoming fantasy season. Some might try to say that Michael Campanaro loses here as he now gets bumped to no better than wide receiver four, but to them I say come on man, like he was really going to bring any value. I would like to note that I think Maclin is the most valuable receiver to have in this bunch. I know he has been in wide receiver hell for the last two year but don’t forget his last year in Philly he had 85 receptions for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns, and while 29 is not really considered young in the NFL, at wide receiver it is young enough to assume he can still produce at a high level for three or four more years.

The guy that gets the biggest change in value for me is Joe Flacco. He goes from low end QB2 to high end QB2 with the signing of Maclin. We all know Joe loves to throw and has never audibled to a run play, so getting Maclin gets him a wide receiver he can count on for all three downs, and most importantly thrid down. Especailly after losing Smith and Pitta. This will make Flacco one of the top backup or superflex QB to have this season. I am not sure it is enough to crack QB1, but it pushes him closer to it.

One last guy I want to mention that is impacted by this signing and he is Zay Jones. I know he is a Bill not a Raven. But the Bills were said to be Maclin’s other top choice to sign with and if he did Jones would have been squeezed out of the starting lineup, but now he remains a solid prospect to land the WR2 job in Buffalo. So those that drafted him in your dynasty rookie drafts you can breathe easy, at least for now.

Michael Kelley is a member of the Going For 2 team. You can check out his website Dynasty League Problems for more writings or find him on Twitter @mikekelleydlp spreading fantasy knowledge for the masses.

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