Why Diontae Johnson trade muddles Ravens’ fantasy outlook

It has been suspected the Panthers were going to trade top wide receiver Diontae Johnson. That deal came about on Tuesday, but it isn’t going to deliver the fantasy bonus many were hoping to get.

Johnson is headed to the Ravens. In real-world terms, this is great for Baltimore. But it has some fantasy drawbacks.

First, don’t expect Johnson to duplicate his top games with Andy Dalton in Carolina. There are more and better weapons to compete for touches in Baltimore — namely top receiver Zay Flowers, tight end Mark Andrews, which is two more competitors for targets than Johnson had in Carolina.

Also, the Ravens are the second-most run-heavy offense, so they rely less on the passing game. Plus, the Panthers were almost constantly behind, and trailing teams have to pass more. The Ravens won’t have that problem.

So expect Johnson’s production to land somewhere below the 18.3 he averaged in PPR from Weeks 3-6, but not nearly as bad as the 4.2 he averaged the first two games.

So it isn’t great for Johnson, but it also isn’t great for Flowers. Expect Johnson to eat into some of Flowers already erratic target volume. This will bump him out of WR2 territory to more of a Flex option, with Johnson now being a solid bench asset. It also means Rashod Bateman is likely to disappear from the fantasy landscape.

The Johnson trade wasn’t the only piece of significant news Tuesday. The Colts are benching quarterback Anthony Richardson and replacing him with Joe Flacco.

Flacco filled in for three games earlier this season when Richardson was hurt, and the passing game improved significantly. This change is great news for the entire Colts offense.

It means fewer rushing touchdowns will be vultured away from Jonathan Taylor. It puts Michael Pittman Jr. back in fantasy starter territory — he averaged 14.8 in PPR in three games with Flacco, compared to 6.3 with Richardson. Josh Downs can now get weekly consideration — he averaged 19.2 with Flacco, 9.6 in three games with Richardson.

Betting on the NFL?

It only hurts Alec Pierce, who was a popular deep target for Richardson but has been invisible with Flacco, save for one 65-yard TD in Week 5.

So don’t go spending big free-agent capital on Diontae, but it is a good time to try to trade for Colts players.yeah that’s