Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals Fantasy Football Matchup Breakdown For Week 7
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Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals Fantasy Football Matchup Breakdown For Week 7

John Laghezza breaks down the AFC North tilt between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens for Week 7 in fantasy football.

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Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get ready to rumble. Few games get circled before the season starts and manage to hold that same intensity by the time we’re ready to kick off. Well, that’s exactly what we got when Joe Burrow faces off against Lamar Jackson this Sunday in a pivotal game for control of the NFL’s toughest division.

Ravens vs. Bengals Matchup Breakdown For Week 7 Fantasy Football

CIN_bengals-logo.svgCincinnati Bengals Fantasy Preview For Week 7

Cincinnati's scoring more than 25 PPG on a top-5 offensive success rate (50.1%), yet I can't be the only one who feels like they haven’t even begun to fight. That weird shade of disappointment starts with Joe Burrow, the overall QB13. Landing anywhere outside the top five or six at the position will always feel like a letdown, though it shouldn’t. Cool Joe B’s really turned it on these last three weeks, averaging 23.4 points/game as the overall QB2 on the back of the elite underpinning metrics we’re used to: 0.22 EPA/dropback, 73.2% completion rate, 108.5 passer rating.

The real surprise lies in the backfield, as Chase Brown detractors continue cheering the Bengals’ lack of an RB1 fantasy finish to date. Brown’s still commanding an elite workload (82 UR; 73.6% backfield opportunities, 19.0 touches/game), plus a 15% team target share, and the majority of goal-line chances. The inefficiency’s been frustrating, no doubt (3.5 yards/carry, 2.59 yards after contact/rush, -0.13 EPA/attempt), but I’m doubling down that it’s coming. Yes, Samaje Perine out-touched Brown versus Miami, but Cincy led by three scores against Miami, and it doesn’t move the needle for me. Now, Perine should be rostered for the sole fact he’s the only Bengal RB besides Brown to touch the ball in 2026 — just don’t expect much standalone value.

At full strength, the Bengals’ receiving room’s simple as pie. It’s the dynamic duo of Ja’Marr Chase (24.8% target/route, 1.89 yards/route) and Tee Higgins (25.3% target/route, 2.49 yards/route) soaking up more than 7.5 targets/each, while no one else is over 3.5. In games featuring higher scoring totals, or better matchups in general, Mike Gesicki’s worth a look but not so much versus Baltimore — the Ravens allow the second-fewest catches (3.8) and sixth-fewest receiving yards (36.2) to the position per game.

  • Start: Joe Burrows (QB7), Chase Brown (RB15), Ja’Marr Chase (WR3), Tee Higgins (WR17)
  • Sit: Mike Gesicki (TE23)
  • Sleeper: Tanner Hudson (N/A)

BAL_ravens-logo.svgBaltimore Ravens Fantasy Preview For Week 7

Frankly, I’m getting tired of the Ravens’ reporting and subsequent handling of injuries, particularly when it comes to Lamar Jackson. Few players mean more to their team than the former two-time MVP, so as fantasy players we can't even fathom sitting him if he's active. However, just last year a lower-body injury cost Lamar a month, and he wasn’t the same afterward. I mean 13.3 fantasy points/game across a nine-game sample just isn’t the same player averaging 27.6 points/game before the injury. Which version will we get Sunday? No one can say for sure — let’s hope the medical staff knows what it’s doing.

Is there a single offensive phase on any offense more clearly laid out than Baltimore's run game through Derrick Henry? I think not. The ageless King continues to dominate as the overall RB8, despite a route participation rate at a fraction of the players ahead of him. Henry even managed an RB7 finish in Week 5 with Tyler Huntley under center. Is there nothing he can’t do? Last note: Henry’s 83% backfield opportunity share ranks 4th in the NFL, with only Justice Hill commanding an RB touch for BAL this season. He’s gaining 6.8 yards/touch on the year, and a ~4% rostership simply doesn’t reflect the immense contingency value.

Once Rashod Bateman took the field at practice today, I had to re-do this paragraph from a wondrous dose of Ja'Kobi Lane fan fiction to a well-tempered wait-and-see approach. Even if we knew Jackson was 100%, we simply haven’t seen two Raven WRs get home in the same game. For reference, a Baltimore wideout posted a top-10 finish in three of four games with Jackson, without a single top-60 rank among the remaining WR room in any of those contests.

Once we account for the inevitability that is Zay Flowers (UR 82; 0.73 fantasy points/route, 33.6% target/route, 3.77 yards/route), it’s especially difficult to see Lane producing when he’s not playing in 12-personnel. It’s possible the quickly aging Mark Andrews cedes targets, but now he has his own problems fending off rookie Josh Cuevas.

  • Start: Lamar Jackson (QB5), Derrick Henry (RB5), Zay Flowers (WR12)
  • Sit: Mark Andrews (TE14)
  • Sleeper: Ja’Kobi Lane (WR52)

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