It’s a gloomy day for the Baltimore Ravens offense as wide receiver Rashod Bateman has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2022 NFL season due to a foot injury that he’s had for some time now. Bateman is undergoing surgery on the foot that the Ravens and their staff seemingly did not handle well at all. Devin Duvernay now becomes a top waiver wire pickup as everyone begins looking for a replacement for their fantasy football teams. Are there any other Baltimore receivers worth targeting on the fantasy football waiver wire now? How about the new guy on the block? Well, maybe he’s not all that new, but he is dawning the black and purple for the first time. DeSean Jackson, ladies and gentlemen, is ready to go. Can the 35-year-old wideout make a difference for the Ravens offense and rise up fantasy football rankings and NFL projections? How big of a role will he have for Baltimore with Bateman stuck on the NFL injury report? Do we dare add Jackson off of the fantasy football waiver wire? Let's break it down.

 

DeSean Jackson Becomes A Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickup After Rashod Bateman Injury

The Ravens signed Jackson to their practice squad on October 18th and he’s expected to be elevated and play when the Ravens take on the New Orleans Saints on Monday night. What can Jackson realistically provide and can he be fantasy relevant? It’s really not likely, but we know what Jackson can do. He can get down the field and has always been a big play waiting to happen. Four times throughout his career, Jackson led the NFL in yards per reception, twice averaging over 20 yards per catch. Even in 2021, albeit it was a small sample, he averaged 22.7 YP/Rec on his 20 receptions.

All that to say 2018 was the last time Jackson played a significant role in an offense as he started 10 games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but in case you guys haven’t had internet connection, a few calendars or a cell phone lately, it’s 2022 and his 36th birthday is on December 1st.

But who’s Jackson’s actual competition with Rashod Bateman out? When you set aside Mark Andrews, knowing that he instantly becomes option A-through-T, you think about U-through-Z and the names are Devin Duvernay, Demarcus Robinson, and James Proche II. Duvernay profiles as the team’s number one wide receiver for the remainder of the year as he’s already been that guy as Bateman battled through his foot injury. Robinson has just 15 receptions and Proche has four. None of these guys have the resume of DeSean Jackson, but we’re just unsure of what’s left of Jackson.

Looking at the match for Jackson with Lamar Jackson, it’s not all that bad. Lamar Jackson has thrown 29 deep balls according to PlayerProfiler and that’s the 10th most in the league. He’s 11th in air yards and eighth in air yards per attempt and given the nature of DeSean Jackson’s game, they could mesh well. That being said, we don’t know what Jackson’s role is going to be, we can’t say he’s going to see extended playing time, nor play over guys that have been on their roster all season long. Jackson’s fantasy value is very, very low until we see him in action. It’s easy to think he has lost a step, or three, at his age, which diminishes him a lot.

 

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