Let’s see what the Ravens trade for Diontae Johnson means from a fantasy football perspective.
Johnson goes from one of the worst offenses in the NFL with the Panthers to one of the best with the Ravens. There’s a pretty large difference in catching passes from a combination of Andy Dalton and Bryce Young to working alongside Lamar Jackson. And while this move means a lot for Baltimore, it also means a lot for fantasy football managers.
The focus here is obviously on Johnson, but there will be several pieces on Baltimore who are impacted by this move, both in the real game and in the fantasy landscape. So with that being said, let’s take a closer look at how the Johnson trade impacts the fantasy value of a few key Ravens players, starting with the guy who was the subject of the trade in the first place.
Diontae Johnson’s production may not increase as expected
While the Panthers offense stinks, it wasn’t because of Johnson. The veteran wideout hauled in 30 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns through seven games of action, making himself a viable WR2/FLEX option early on in the campaign. The problem for Johnson has been consistency, as he scored at least 19.8 fantasy points in three games, but failed to eclipse 5.9 points in the other four games.
That was largely due to the Panthers woeful offense, so landing in Baltimore should conceivably help Johnson’s production, right? Unfortunately, that isn’t necessarily a guarantee. Johnson was the top option in the air for Carolina, especially with Adam Thielen only playing in three games before he landed on the injured reserve with a hamstring injury.
With the Ravens, there’s no guarantee Johnson will receive the amount of targets he was getting with the Panthers. Lamar Jackson loves to spread the ball around on offense, and there are several other players, such as Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews, and Isaiah Likely, who are going to command targets in the passing game. Johnson’s floor should be higher with Baltimore, but his ceiling may ultimately be a bit more limited thanks to the lower target share he seems set to receive.
Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry’s fantasy football output should remain the same
Elsewhere, though, the lives of Jackson and superstar running back Derrick Henry just became far easier, and their fantasy output should improve ever so slightly as a result. Jackson has a shiny new toy to work with in the passing game, while Johnson serves as another weapon who can take attention off of Henry and the ground game, which will open up more holes for him in the process.
Zay Flowers becomes and even bigger boom-or-bust player
Arguably the biggest loser as a result of this deal is fantasy football managers who have Zay Flowers on their roster. Similar to Johnson, consistency has been Flowers biggest issue, which is largely due to the targets he’s receiving. Flowers has four games where he’s scored at least 18.5 fantasy points, but he also has three where he hasn’t eclipsed 5.3 points.
When Flowers gets the ball, he generally produces, but with another guy in Johnson taking targets away from him, that makes him more volatile. Johnson has made a living being a sure handed receiver who can get open at all three levels of the field, and if he gets on the same page with Jackson early, that could make Flowers a touchdown-dependent wide receiver option, which is never good. There’s no doubt this makes Baltimore as a whole better, but Johnson’s fantasy production is likely going to come at Flowers’ expense.
