Bottom Line

Bateman has struggled to live up to the hype of being the 27th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Since entering the league, he’s only played in 18 games with mixed results of production.

He now finds himself in a jam-packed WR room and shouldn’t be counted on as much more than a speculative WR4 with some space for moderate upside.

What We Learned Last Year

• The former Minnesota product played in only 12 games as a rookie in 2021 due to a groin injury, and health issues once again plagued Bateman in 2022.
• Bateman finished 2022 as the WR111 overall with 8.9 PPR points per game.
• He recorded a pair of top-30 weekly finishes to open 2022, then fell outside of the top-50 WRs in the subsequent four games before a foot injury ended his season.
• After the team traded away WR Marquise Brown to the Cardinals last offseason, Bateman entered 2022 as the WR1 on the Ravens’ depth chart with a chance to prove himself. He displayed some growth, but not a ton:
  • 2021: 14% target share, 17.1% air yards share, 8.6 PPR points per game
  • 2022: 17.2% target share, 27.8% air yards share, 8.9 PPR points per game
• The Ravens picked Bateman in the first round of the NFL Draft for a reason. The franchise clearly believes he’s good, but there’s simply not a lot of evidence in his career to support that:
  • Among 89 NFL WRs who saw 50+ targets in 2021, Bateman ranked:
    • 70th in PFF receiving grade
    • 65th in receiving yards (515)
    • 71st in yards per route run (1.26)
    • tied for last in YAC/reception (3.7).
  • Among 119 NFL WRs who saw 25+ targets in 2022, Bateman ranked:
    • 97th in PFF receiving grade
    • 102nd in receiving yards (285)
  • But he did improve by ranking 12th in yards per route run (2.38) and second in YAC/reception (9.1).

What to Expect in 2023

• We simply don’t know what Bateman is capable of because we’ve only seen him play 18 career games.
• He’ll also have much greater competition for targets in 2023. The Ravens added WR Zay Flowers in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft and signed former Pro Bowl wideout Odell Beckham Jr. to a one-year, $15 million contract this offseason.
• Bateman has a shot to be the #1 WR in this offense, but the cluster of new pass-catchers around him, in addition to incumbent TE Mark Andrews, will make it tough to expect much consistency.
• He also began training camp on the PUP list due to a foot injury. Bateman didn't join the Ravens at practice again until August 8.
• Rookie Zay Flowers netted a lot of positive buzz during the time Bateman was away. It's still early yet, but it's not as though the Ravens didn't have a quality WR showing out during his absence. Bateman may need to show out in the preseason to help counteract the excitement around his rookie counterpart.
• The influence of new OC Todd Monken will increase the overall passing volume of this Ravens offense compared to how the team operated under ex-OC Greg Roman. However, that’s a small boon on top of myriad question marks and red flags working against Bateman.
• All things considered, Bateman is a WR4 with mixed potential to be a regular fantasy contributor to lineups in 2023.