Baltimore Ravens Fantasy Football profiles: Mark Ingram
With the Fantasy Football talking heating up, today we turn our attention to Baltimore Ravens running back Mark Ingram and his projections.
Whether or not you value running backs highly in Fantasy Football or not at all, Baltimore Ravens running back Mark Ingram could be a star in 2019. There’s plenty of excitement behind the 29-year old his ninth career season and first with the Ravens. The change of scenery could be good for Ingram, but he’s been Fantasy Football relevant for quite some time now.
It took Ingram some time to get his footing in the NFL after winning a Heisman Trophy award at the University of Alabama. Ingram had less than 1,500 rushing yards through his first three seasons in the NFL (2011-2013) with the New Orleans Saints, while missing 11 games and starting just 12. Since 2014, however, Ingram has been magnificent, averaging over 1,000 scrimmage yards and 8.8 total touchdowns per season.
Related Story. Fantasy Football: Assessing Mark Ingram’s value for 2019. light
Now with the Baltimore Ravens, there’s little reason to believe he can’t keep that production up. In fact, there should be a significant increase in his rushing totals in an offense that is focused on running the ball. With the Saints, Mark Ingram was averaging just 165.1 carries per season. Meanwhile, Alex Collins carried the ball 212 times in 2017 as the Ravens lead back, and Gus Edwards had 137 carries in 11 games last season.
Edwards was on pace for just shy of 200 carries over 16 games, while in his seven starts he would’ve toppled 279 carries based off his per game average. Edwards is undoubtedly going to see the football plenty this season, but it should be Mark Ingram who gets the bulk of the carries.
Ingram’s career-high 230 carries (2017 season) should be the bare-minimum he receives in 2019. There’s a legitimate chance that based off the amount of running Baltimore plans to do that he could eclipse 300 carries this season. The Ravens will likely be looking to maximize Ingram’s workload due to his age and contract, but also because of his talent.
Team’s won’t just hand you high-volume carries unless you are worth the usage. Mark Ingram has proven that he’s definitely worthy of that kind of workload. Since 2014, Ingram is averaging 909 rushing yards and 7.8 touchdowns per season. It may not seem like a lot, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find players with that kind of consistency year-in and year-out. It’s also worth noting Ingram has missed 11 games in that span…
The carries will no doubt come, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Ingram become a big facet in the passing game, as well. Ingram is solid as a receiver, averaging 40.8 receptions and 291 receiving yards per season since 2014. That’s nearly 70 extra points in PPR formats, which has to get you excited.
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All together, since 2014 Mark Ingram is averaging 166 Fantasy PPS in standard scoring leagues and 206.8 in PPR formats (factoring in fumbles lost). That kind of production gives Ingram RB2 value in Fantasy Football with some serious upside to be even better. Because there will be lesser competition in the backfield (with no offense to Edwards, but he’s no Alvin Kamara), Ingram could have plenty of career-highs in 2019. Pick up Mark Ingram this season and trust him to be steady and productive all season long. So long as he’s healthy, Ingram could be unstoppable for your Fantasy Football squad.
Final projections: 1,300 rushing yards, 200 receiving yards, 30 receptions, 11 total touchdowns