Now, I know all the targets aren't going to to the new tight end. I am very bullish on Perriman, Mike Wallace continues to be relevant, and I expect one of Chris Moore/Michael Campanaro to step up their game. However, it's well worth examining which of the Ravens' tight ends may end up the ultimate successor. For your consideration I present a man whose name sounds as extreme as he is-Maxx Williams!
The other guys:
Before highlighting why I like Maxx Williams, I think it's important to highlight his competition. The Ravens have a few potentially relevant fantasy tight ends besides Williams on their roster in the form of Ben Watson,Darren Waller, and Crockett Gilmore. Let's take a look at them.
Ben Watson missed all of last season with a torn achilles. His last great season was in 2015 for the Saints with a 74-825-6 line for the season. He's 36 turning 37 coming off an injury. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that people 35 years or older don't tend to heal well unless their name is Logan.
Darren Waller is the name you must hear in connection with why Maxx Williams won't be the starter for the Ravens next season, and for good reason. He is an athletic freak. However, he was drafted a full four rounds after Williams in the 2015 draft. While neither has been particularly productive to date, Williams does have the better career stat line despite not being targeted at all in 2016.
Crockett Gilmore is the man who stole Maxx Williams starting job in 2015 when Dennis Pitta got hurt. He did a serviceable job during that season putting up a 33-412-4 line. 2016 was a different story. He was completely buried when Pitta re-emerged, and failed to even put up 100 yards on the season. Additionally, with an athletic profile like this one, he may be more aptly named Crockett Gilsnore.
Mr. Extreme:
In a league where I likely lost Pitta as my bye week tight end, I traded 3.9 for Maxx Williams. So why do I like Maxx Williams? The draft pedigree of being a second rounder in 2015 definitely factors in. The fact that his rookie season was the best in Ravens' franchise history is also pretty significant. For dynasty purposes, he is the youngest of the tight ends currently on the Ravens' roster.
That's important because this is a Ravens offense that is getting younger. They just saw Steve Smith retire, and are going to likely be using at least two young guys at wide receiver. This is an offense that is re-inventing itself. The Ravens aren't looking to re-invent themselves with a tight end in Ben Watson who is likely to be out of the league in a year or two.
There's only one thing standing between Williams and those juicy 121 targets-the knee injury that kept him out of for the season after week 4 in 2016. He had surgery to fix the issue but it's a procedure that Coach Harbaugh has said he has never seen before. If Williams can stay healthy, it's not unreasonable to think he could have a season line of 65-625-4 as Flacco's favorite red zone target. That may not seem overly exciting, but it would have been good enough to make him a top 15 tight end for fantasy purposes last season. Seems worthy of a late round rookie pick to me!
It's an uphill battle for the former college star coming off a procedure that has never been done for football purposes. If anyone is up to the challenge, it's the guy willing to put in "Maximum effort". I'm willing to bet that the guy with the extra X in his name is "gonna give it to ya".
Until next time,
Rek
@RekedFantasy
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