2022 Dynasty/Fantasy Preseason Week 2 Game Report: Ravens 24, Cardinals 17
Battle of the 2nd-teams, so not as much juicy activity to comb through…but we had Isaiah Likely racking numbers and an Arizona Cardinals #2 RB clue given.
Baltimore led this game 24-3 at one point, and they never lose in the preseason…and they held on to win again here. The Ravens have two legit backup QBs…while the Cardinals started a QB the Ravens cut in 2021…so, that couldn’t be good to try and ‘win’ this preseason game…and it wasn’t.
Dynasty/Fantasy Player Notes…
-- The Cardinals ran a rotation of backup RBs, and the order is telling…and matches the depth charts that I see…
Eno Benjamin (4-12-0, 0-0-0/1) started and did his usual…’nothing’. But the fact he started here and is listed #2 on the depth chart -- we have to assume Kingsbury is going there.
Darrel Williams (1-3-0) came in after Benjamin, for a moment. Williams is the more ‘Conner-like’ backup…but it appears he’s behind Benjamin, which is surprising to me…but not super-surprising/I don’t really FF-care. If James Conner went down-and-out, early on in the season, then I bet Arizona would go chase a solution outside of the current depth chart. Eno Benjamin is not a real solution. Williams-Benjamin split could get them by for a bit.
Rookie Keaontay Ingram (4-9-0, 2-20-0/3) ran third of the trio, and didn’t do anything that warranted a bold move up the depth chart.
-- Isaiah Likely (8-100-1/8) caught 8 passes for 100 yards against Arizona’s B-C defense…and is now a superstar, per Twitter.
LAC WR Michael Bandy caught 8 passes for 69 yards and 1 TD on 9 targets this same week…and no one cares. The week prior, Bandy caught 7 passes for 73 yards and a TD on 11 targets…and no one cared.
DET WR Tom Kennedy caught 8 passes for 104 yards on 13 targets Week 1 of the preseason…and had 5 catches with 2 TDs Week 2 of the preseason…and no one cared.
Where is Twitter on Bandy and Kennedy?
What’s the difference between Likely and Bandy and Kennedy’s performances/tallies?
There’s a context to all of them, but it’s not proper to orgasm over Likely just because he’s a magical unicorn rookie. He did a bunch of 5-yard stop-and-turn/sit down routes. He got targets. He made the catches. He made a couple nice after the catch runs. He looks promising, but he didn’t do anything shocking in this game but catch the targets thrown to him.
Likely is in a weak spot for FF 2022. He’ll be behind Andrews-Bateman-Duvernay-Proche at a minimum for targets. Likely is doing work with the backup QBs…so, we don’t know what Lamar thinks of him/what kind of connection they have.
Likely is promising…better than I expected…leaned up to a WR/TE…there’s hope, but he’s not going to blast off from the start of FF 2022, as long as Andrews is healthy, and probably not going to hit fast even if Andrews is down.
-- Andy Isabella (5-54-0/8) played solidly in this game. He’s giving a good enough effort. But it looks like the life/juice has been sucked out of him here. Gone is the fleet feet, sparks flying rookie…and now playing is a generic underneath WR with decent wheels. He desperately needs a change of scenery he doesn’t seem he’ll ever get. So many WRs like him in the league now…he may have missed his window of a time when he was more unique.
-- While Isaiah Likely becomes a preseason star…mainstream #1 rated college TE Trey McBride (0-0-0/2) is a ghost. There hasn’t been enough work his way to even try to evaluate yet.
-- Another quality game from the Ravens QB-duo, Huntley-Brown. They are both legit NFL backup/fringe starter types. I’ve hit on them last week, and Huntley the last 2 years. But I had not really watched Jarrett Guarantano (3-6 for 37 yards, 1 TD/0 INT) in pro action, not even sure if he played last week…but I caught his 4th-quarter work here and made me think of watching some of his work at Washington State -- he has a little ‘it’ factor, a little swagger to his game…but he’s not been consistent. I think there’s raw clay to mold here…but the NFL doesn’t have a lot of time for such things.
-- IDP notes…
Kyle Hamilton (4 tackles, 1 PD) was playing a lot of 4-3 OLB in this game. An interesting twist, but he’s such a poor tackler and so adept at getting to the action a moment too late that I didn’t see him stand out in anyway. He did play up near the line in the red zone and jumped up on a slant pass and batted it away 5+ yards past the line of scrimmage -- that was a cool play, and a unique weapon/advantage on defense. Hard to throw a quick slant over him.
Baltimore rookie CB Pepe Williams (1 tackle, 1 PD) played with a ton of energy and aggression…he’s just a ballplayer. You wish Hamilton had his mindset.
Good to see Arizona LB Dennis Gardeck (1 tackle, 1 TFL) out there as an edge rusher…he’s the listed starter, finally, and he could not be blocked in this game. If he really does start and plays 50%+ of the snaps in games…he’ll get 8-10 sacks this season.
