Pat Fitzmaurice provides his rapid reactions and fantasy football impacts for the bevy of transactions made today, including Diontae Johnson‘s trade to the Ravens, Anthony Richardson‘s benching in favor of Joe Flacco and Stefon Diggs‘ season-ending injury. Here are the fantasy football implications of today’s flurry of news.
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Fantasy Football Impact & Takeaways
Panthers Trade Diontae Johnson to Ravens
The Ravens have acquired WR Diontae Johnson in a trade with the Panthers, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, sending Carolina a fifth-round pick in 2025. In addition to Johnson, the Panthers are sending the Ravens a sixth-round pick in 2025.
This is an inexpensive way for the Ravens to upgrade their pass-catching firepower. The exchange of draft picks is almost negligible considering that the Ravens’ pick will be late in the fifth round and the Panthers’ will be early in the sixth round. The Ravens will have to pay Johnson just under $3.9 million for the rest of the season.
Johnson’s fantasy value has oscillated wildly this season. It was in the tank with Bryce Young at quarterback, then rebounded when the Panthers benched Young and inserted veteran Andy Dalton at quarterback. With Young back under center for Carolina (at least in the short term), Johnson investors have to be pleased the receiver is changing teams.
Johnson had stat lines of 8-122-1, 7-83-1 and 6-78-1 this season with Dalton at quarterback. But he was held to 23 or fewer receiving yards in his four other games, two of which were quarterbacked by Young.
When he was playing with the Steelers, Johnson had a three-year run from 2020 to 2022 during which he averaged 153.3 targets and 93.7 catches a year. Johnson doesn’t have nearly the same sort of target upside with the run-heavy Ravens, who have other good pass-catchers in the fold. I’m expecting Johnson to have low-end WR3 value the rest of the way, which means he might not be a weekly must-start in larger leagues.
Zay Flowers has been the Ravens’ lead receiver, and there’s a good chance he’ll continue to be the most valuable of Baltimore’s WRs. Johnson could put a small dent in Flowers’ target total, but by no means will the Ravens’ new addition completely kneecap Flowers’ fantasy value.
Flowers is currently WR18 in overall fantasy scoring and tied for WR28 in fantasy points per game. I think he’ll be a high-end to midrange WR3 the rest of the way.
Rashod Bateman was providing inconsistent production before the trade but at least offered flex value. He’s now unplayable in most fantasy leagues.
Ravens TEs Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely might lose a small bit of fantasy value with the added target competition. Andrews has been more productive in recent weeks after a slow start, but he’s now a borderline fantasy starter. Likely has cratered after his tour-de-force performance in Week 1 and is currently unplayable. Ravens WR Nelson Agholor has now lost what little fantasy value he had.
Lamar Jackson was already the QB1 in fantasy, and with this trade, the rich get richer. The sheriff of fantasy QBs is getting a valuable new deputy.
As for the Panthers, their offense is now basically a fantasy sinkhole.
Chuba Hubbard is the only startable Panther for fantasy purposes. If Young remains Carolina’s quarterback, Hubbard goes from being an RB2 to being an RB3. His fantasy start sit value could be further diminished if the Panthers decide to give rookie Jonathon Brooks an extended audition upon his return from the knee injury he sustained at the University of Texas last November.
And speaking of auditions, with Johnson out of the picture, Panthers WRs Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker will audition for their fantasy investors the rest of the way, as will rookie TE Ja’Tavion Sanders. We shouldn’t expect any of them to become startable this season (at least not with Young at QB), but all have shown intriguing flashes this season and could become more bankable contributors by 2025.
Panthers WR Adam Thielen is expected to return from a hamstring injury soon. With Johnson gone, Thielen could once again be Carolina’s lead receiver, which might give him at least a small bit of redraft value.
Anthony Richardson Benched & Stefon Diggs Done for Season
In other news …
- The Colts announced the benching of second-year QB Anthony Richardson in favor of Joe Flacco. Richardson’s redraft value is now almost nonexistent, and his dynasty value has taken a major blow. Flacco will be anywhere from a high-end QB2 to a low-end QB2 from week to week depending on the matchup. The biggest beneficiaries are Colts WRs Michael Pittman and Josh Downs, who go from unplayable fantasy assets to playable WR3s. Colts WR Alec Pierce could now be Flex-worthy in the right matchup.
- Texans WR Stefon Diggs has a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The Houston passing attack is now seriously undermanned until Nico Collins returns from a hamstring injury. He’s tentatively expected back sometime in the first half of November. Until then, WR Tank Dell and TE Dalton Schultz could have enhanced target outlooks, WRs John Metchie and Xavier Hutchinson will be more involved in the offense and Joe Mixon should continue to get massive rushing volume every week. Until Collins returns, Texans QB C.J. Stroud is no more than a midrange QB2 for fantasy.
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