Rashod

Bateman

Bateman was ruled out Saturday because of illness. Kirkwood was just elevated from the practice squad, but won’t play in the winner-take-all game. Rush is the emergency third quarterback.

Bateman didn’t practice all week, and the 26-year-old wideout will miss the winner-take-division matchup against the Steelers. He should be available if Baltimore advances to the Wild Card round with a win over Pittsburgh.

Bateman hasn’t practiced all week, but John Harbaugh said he believes both Bateman and Marlon Humphrey (illness — also questionable) to be cleared by game time on Sunday. Bateman has barely cracked the fantasy radar all season and would be hard to trust if he was healthy.

Bateman got in three full practices and will go back to his job this year, which appears to be to run straight in a line while not being targeted unless things go horribly wrong. Bateman has 217 receiving yards in 10 starts and would be someone we wouldn’t start if we could avoid it against the Patriots.

Bateman should be available for QB Lamar Jackson this weekend, though the field-stretching wide receiver has earned more than four targets just once this season. No. 1 WR Zay Flowers was added to the injury report with a neck injury today, which could free up a few targets for Bateman, if Flowers cannot play on Sunday.

Bateman was a late addition to the injury report last week. He was added to the report on Thursday and then downgraded to a DNP on Friday before being listed as questionable. Bateman was ultimately among the team’s inactives ahead of kickoff. A return to practice today is a step in the right direction, but fantasy managers will get more clarity later in the week. Either way, Bateman is not a particularly appealing fantasy option to close out the year.

Bateman was questionable entering the weekend but has been officially sidelined for Sunday’s game. DeAndre Hopkins will likely serve as his replacement on Sunday against the Bengals, but Hopkins is an easy fade for fantasy managers give then he hasn’t caught more than two passes in any game this season. In addition to Bateman, the Ravens also declared CB Keyon Martin, OT Joseph Noteboom, DT Aeneas Peebles, and QB Cooper Rush inactive for Week 15.

He didn’t practice Friday after popping up on the report as limited on Thursday — it sounds like he’s re-aggravated his ankle injury that had him miss a game last month. Bateman should be regarded as truly questionable, at best, to play against the Bengals.

Bateman, who had just five receptions over his pervious four games, dropped a potential touchdown inside the ten yards line against the Steelers — the latest in a frustrating season for the miscast downfield threat in a run-heavy Baltimore offense. Bateman ran a pass routes on 38 of Lamar Jackson’s 45 drop backs against the Steelers. He’s only a deep league option for Week 15 against the Bengals.

He has one game over four targets or 60 yards this year — Week 3’s loss against the Ravens — and Baltimore’s passing offense can’t support many fantasy mouths with how Lamar Jackson is currently playing. Even healthy and with a good matchup, you’d have to really contort things to see a reason to play Bateman in fantasy this week.