The Ray Rice suspension and release has the Baltimore Ravens using Justin Forsett and Bernard Pierce as their top two RB options ahead of Lorenzo Taliaferro and now fantasy football owners should look at those names as free agent pickups for Week 2, as one will get the start and the others should also get some touches after the whole TMZ video release situation and they could be sleepers moving forward for the rest of the season.
Rice leaves after having a terrible season last year and now he is done with the Ravens likely forever and that gives way for Forsett and Bernard Pierce. The team also has Lorenzo Taliaferro and while he isn't going to be much of an impact player, he could be a solid option in deeper leagues. Rice is a mess and now he is gone and it comes after he had the worst season of his career and that led to the Ravens missing the playoffs and he was expected to come back much better this season.
Forsett comes in as the guy that likely will get things started and it comes after he took over for Rice and Bernard Pierce in Week 1. Forsett was thrust into major action after Pierce was benched and he had 16 touches in the game. Forsett had 70 rushing yards on 11 carries and he also added five catches for 14 yards. Forsett now likely will be the RB1 and could put up starter numbers and his previous best year in the NFL was with Seattle back in 2009 when he had over 600 yards rushing, so he is a capable back.
Many saw Pierce as a sleeper this season with Rice out of the picture for two games, but he did not get off to a great start. Pierce is expected to be the main ball carrier once things settle, but for now he has to earn that back after losing the fumble and putting up six carries for 14 yards in the first game. Last season he had 436 yards and 20 catches for 104 yards and he could double those numbers by the time the season is done.
The Ravens are in a tough situation right now football-wise and it shows their own negligence with Ray Rice, as they basically expected to have him back in two games and now they are woefully unprepared for this. This is not a knock on Justin Forsett, but he is a journeyman player and now is the starter at least for this week and he could be the starter for the rest of the season if the team doesn't make any more moves. Pierce also could be a start option and many thought that would happen, but then he fumbled in Week 1 and was pushed aside at least for that game.
The Ravens made some extreme mistakes of their own in this situation and now they will have to pay for it and it could cost them games. The team forced Janay Palmer to apologize in front of the national media and they thought, they really thought Rice would be out two games, so they did not make any major moves at the RB position.