With the announcement that Hayden Hurst had a screw inserted in his foot and will miss the start of the season, the Ravens lost their most talented tight end and I lost one of my favorite late-round picks. Early reports suggest Hurst will be out three-to-five weeks, and that doesn't necessarily mean we'll see him on the football field that soon. 

I do still believe Hurst will be the Ravens' best tight end at some time this season but all that means is none of them are draftable. Nick Boyle is the most likely starter for Week 1, but Mark Andrews could push him if the team's third-round pick can stay healthy. It may be that one of these guys is a decent streamer before Hurst returns, but mostly I'm just avoiding this group now.

What this does mean is more opportunities for the Ravens receivers, and one of them had a spectacular camp. John Brown wowed the Ravens in practices and has found some success in preseason games as well. Originally I thought this would turn into an either/or situation with Michael Crabtree, but now there may be room for both to have Fantasy relevance. Brown is still by far the best bet on Draft Day as he's available in the double-digit rounds.

Here's a look at my updated expectations for the Ravens in Fantasy.

*Rankings expressed below are in terms of expected Fantasy points. This is a part of our actual Fantasy Football rankings but not a direct correlation to my rankings. Things like injury risk, upside, etc. factor into rankings but they're not being talked about here. This is simply an expectation as the team is currently constructed.

PLAYER

EXPECTED FP

POS. RANK

EXPECTED PPR FP

POS. RANK

Alex Collins

182

#14

212

#17

Michael Crabtree

127

#33

204

#22

Javorius Allen

100

#46

152

#41

John Brown

114

#46

168

#53

Breaking down the touches

Marty Mornhinweg has been with the Ravens for the past three years, two as an offensive coordinator. The results have been pretty uninspiring. What his playcalling history does show us, is some pretty compelling consistency. We just don't know how much of it is because of personnel.

The Ravens have not had a great receiving corps, and they have thrown the ball to those receivers less than just about any team in the league. Less than half of Joe Flacco's throws have been aimed at wideouts, with running backs and tight ends each garnering about 23 percent. Does that change significantly because they acquired Crabtree, Brown and Snead? I doubt it.

One other thing is that the Ravens should be expected to run a lot of plays. They have not run fewer than 1,050 plays since 2014. That helps make up for some of the lack of efficiency in the offense.

Ravens touches

Player

RuSHARE

RuATT

ReSHARE

TGT

REC

TD

Alex Collins

55%

245

8%

46

30

8

Javorius Allen

20%

89

12%

69

52

4

Kenneth Dixon

20%

89

5%

29

21

2

Michael Crabtree

0%

0

23%

132

78

7

John Brown

0%

0

19%

109

54

6

Willie Snead

0%

0

14%

86

52

2

Hayden Hurst

0%

0

10%

57

40

3

Nick Boyle

0%

0

5%

29

19

1

Of note:

  • The Ravens would love it if Dixon would finally stay healthy and out of trouble. There's little doubt he has more upside than Allen, and he's popped a couple of times this preseason. He's also spent a ton of time watching practice.
  • Brown's health is still a pretty big question mark. It's not hard to see a situation where Snead takes a larger share of the targets, but that wouldn't be a positive for the Ravens.

The Leftovers

Mark Andrews is by far the most interesting guy we haven't talked about. At Oklahoma he was far better statistically than Hurst, and the Ravens did use a third-round pick on him. But Andrews has missed valuable practice time, and at least for the time being appears to behind Boyle in the battle for snaps.

Don't shy away from Jackson in rookie drafts if he's there in the third round. Also, be prepared to add him in redraft if the Ravens give him a chance. He'll be a streamable quarterback from Day 1 with enormous upside.