QB Joe Flacco (Baltimore)

Joe Flacco was pretty consistently a slightly above average quarterback in the first 5 seasons of his career from 2008-2012. His QB rating had always fallen between 80.3 and 93.6. His completion percentages had always fallen between 57.6% and 63.1%. His YPAs had always fallen between 6.66 and 7.41. His touchdowns had always fallen between 20 and 25 (with the exception of his rookie year) and his interceptions had always fallen between 10 and 12.

He then had a fantastic post-season in 2012, en route to that Super Bowl, completing 57.9% of his passes for an average of 9.05 YPA, 11 touchdowns, and no interceptions. He followed that up with the worst season of his career in 2013, completing 59.7% of his passes for an average of 6.37 YPA, 19 touchdowns, and 22 interceptions, easily a career worst QB rating of 73.1. Part of it was his fault but he really didn’t have much help. The Ravens made some changes around him so there’s some bounce back potential, but he’s still just a QB2.

3700 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, 14 interceptions, 100 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown (224 pts standard)

RB Ray Rice (Baltimore)

From 2009-2012, Rice averaged 277 carries for 1267 yards and 8 touchdowns and 70 catches for 610 yards and 2 touchdowns per season, an average of 4.57 yards per carry. However, in 2013, he rushed for 660 yards and 4 touchdowns on 214 carries (3.08 YPC) and caught 58 passes for 321 yards. He broke just 13 tackles on 272 touches and averaged 1.52 yards per carry after contact, giving him easily the league’s worst elusive rating.

Rice isn’t over the hill, only going into his age 27 season and his struggles last year are being attributed to overwork over the previous 4 seasons (1387 touches), a nagging hip injury, and him being overweight. He says the hip injury is behind him and he’s slimmed down this off-season and he’s been looking better in practice so a bounce back year isn’t out of the question, especially with a better offensive line and a new offensive system in place. Hurting his chances at a bounce back year is a two game suspension he’ll face to start the season, after assaulting his now wife this off-season.

180 carries for 720 yards, 5 total touchdowns, 40 catches for 300 yards (132 pts standard)

RB Bernard Pierce (Baltimore)

The player who can take the most advantage of Rice’s potential suspension is Bernard Pierce. Pierce, a 2012 3rd round pick, proved to be very valuable as a rookie en route to a Super Bowl victory, totaling 734 yards and a touchdown on 140 carries across the regular season and post-season, an average of 5.24 yards per carry. However, thanks to the blocking, an injury of his own, and his own struggles, Pierce averaged just 2.87 yards per carry last season and was unable to take advantage of a struggling Rice. He had a better elusive though so more of his struggles can be attributed to the blocking. Healthier, in a new system in his 3rd year in the league, Pierce could have a bounce back year. If he impresses as the lead back in Rice’s absence, he could remain in that role.

160 carries for 670 yards, 5 total touchdowns, 22 catches for 130 yards (110 pts standard)

RB Lorenzo Taliaferro (Baltimore)

The Ravens are going to give both Rice and Pierce the opportunity to bounce back this season, but 4^th round rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro is still worth monitoring in all leagues and drafting as a late round flier in deep leagues. At the very least, he’ll see action early in the season when Rice is suspended. He’s the definition of a deep sleeper.

90 carries for 380 yards, 3 total touchdowns, 15 catches for 110 yards (67 pts standard)

WR Torrey Smith (Baltimore)

Smith appeared to have a breakout year last season in his 3rd year in the league after being drafted in the 2nd round in 2011, catching 65 passes for 1128 yards and 4 touchdowns, but he’s a fairly incomplete volume wide receiver who wasn’t as good as his stats suggested last season. He only caught 51.2% of his targets (65 catches on 127 targets) and only caught 39 passes on balls that went 10 or fewer yards through the air, 71st most in the NFL. He’s pretty much just a deep threat who was overstretched last season. He’ll catch more passes in the Ravens’ new west coast offense under Gary Kubiak, but he’s not an ideal fit for the offense because of his limited route running ability. It’s possible he develops more this season, only going into his age 25 season.

71 catches for 1050 yards and 6 touchdowns (141 pts standard)

TE Dennis Pitta (Baltimore)

Pitta missed 12 games with a hip problem last off-season and was limited upon his return. Still, he caught 20 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown in 4 games, which extrapolates to 80 catches for 716 yards and 4 touchdowns over 16 games. He did that on 128 routes run, an average of 1.32 yards per route run. He caught a lot of passes in those 4 games, but showed little explosiveness. Now he should be completely healthy and he’s going into a system under Gary Kubiak that benefits tight ends. The Ravens obviously believe in him, giving him a 5-year, 32.5 million dollar deal ahead of free agency this off-season. He’s never had more than 61 catches for 669 yards and 7 touchdowns in a season, which he did in 2012, when he averaged 1.69 yards per route run, but I see him exceeding that this season.

65 catches for 760 yards and 6 touchdowns (112 pts standard)

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