NFL

Fantasy Football: Rashod Bateman Fills a Glaring Need for Baltimore

Bateman has a pretty fantastic prospect profile, and he went to a Ravens team that needed help at wideout. How good can Bateman be?

The Baltimore Ravens were a pretty safe bet to address the receiver position with one of their early picks in this draft, and they wasted no time in doing so, scooping up Rashod Bateman with the 27th pick in the first round.

There is a lot to like about the prospect profile for Bateman, who owns some juicy production metrics. Per PlayerProfiler, he boasts a 94th percentile breakout age, 88% college dominator rating and 87% college target share.

Will he hit the ground running as a rookie?

Player Comparisons

numberFire's JJ Zachariason and Jim Sannes break down Bateman's profile, and JJ gives his top comparison.


Brandon Gdula's draft database has found these 10 prior prospects to have the most similar statistical profiles to Bateman. Keep in mind that these are based not on play style or traits but age, athleticism, draft equity, experience, efficiency, and production.

Rashod Bateman Profile Comparisons Similarity
Dez Bryant 92.7%
Hakeem Nicks 92.3%
DeVante Parker 91.8%
Corey Davis 91.7%
Josh Doctson 91.4%
Amari Cooper 91.4%
Kenny Britt 90.0%
Keenan Allen 89.8%
DJ Moore 89.2%
Jordan Matthews 89.0%


Gdula's Take: There's a ton of green lights in Bateman's profile, which leads to some great comparisons. He's in the 85th-percentile or better in breakout age, receiving share, receiving efficiency, and height-adjusted speed in my database.

Bateman's 2021 Fantasy Football Projection

Zachariason's initial rookie-season projections for Bateman include 54 catches, 677 yards and 5.5 touchdowns, making him the PPR WR55 for the 17-game season.

While Baltimore absolutely had a need for a good wideout opposite of Marquise Brown, the Ravens also have Mark Andrews and were the most run-heavy team in the league last year. That will likely cap Bateman's upside in 2021.

On FanDuel Sportsbook, the Ravens are listed at +1400 to win the Super Bowl -- the sixth-best odds -- and +115 to take the AFC North. Baltimore owns a win total projection of 11.5 (with -143 on the under) on FOX Bet.