The Baltimore Ravens are dealing with injuries and players like Javorius Allen aka Buck Allen and Kamar Aiken are solid fantasy football pickups for Week 6 to start with Justin Forsett and Joe Flacco. Steve Smith returned to practice with Crockett Gillmore, but Breshad Perriman remains out with an injury, while Lorenzo Taliaferro was placed on IR.
The Ravens have struggled to start the season and they are just 1-4 to open things up and now play against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The injuries have not helped the team get things going and now they are down a running back with Taliaferro done for the season. According to NFL.com, the Ravens placed Taliaferro on injured reserve with a foot injury and now he will be out for the rest of the regular season for Baltimore.
Taliaferro did not do much this season while dealing with his foot injury and now Buck Allen and Justin Forsett are the top backs for the Ravens. Taliaferro had just 47 yards this season and now Allen is going to get the chance to get some more carries behind Forsett. Marc Sessler at NFL.com writes that Allen should "see snaps" with Forsett and he comes in after rushing for 58 yards on just eight carries against the Browns. Allen has been solid with 124 yards this season in five games and he should get an uptick in carries moving forward.
Justin Forsett expects to play this week, but according to the Baltimore Sun, Forsett did not practice on Wednesday. Forsett is dealing with an ankle injury and John Harbaugh said this week that Forsett has a "good chance" to play in Week 6. Forsett comes in after having two straight games with over 100 yards rushing and last week he had 121 yards and a TD against the Browns., Forsett added four catches for 49 yards and it ended up being his most productive game in total yards this season.
Fantasy owners should definitely take a look at Allen as a handcuff, as now he is the number two back on the depth chart with Taliaferro out. While Forsett looks like a go this week, if he is injured down the line it will be Allen who steps in to start. According to the Baltimore Sun, both Steve Smith and Crockett Gillmore were able to return to practice on Wednesday, but their status for Sunday's game remains uncertain for the Ravens.
Gillmore has missed two games with his injury and Smith missed Week 5 with a back injury and him returning to practice is a good sign, but not a guarantee he will play. With Breshad Perriman still out with a knee injury, Aiken has emerged as an option at WR and fantasy owners should look at him as a replacement for now. Aiken comes in with 15 catches for 243 yards and last week he had four catches for 78 yards on a solid nine targets.
Check here for more on the Ravens, Taliaferro, Perriman, Allen, Aiken and the injuries.
https://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000557110/article/ravens-place-lorenzo-taliaferro-on-seasonending-ir
https://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/183801/buck-allen-is-new-ravens-no-2-back-after-lorenzo-taliaferro-goes-to-ir
https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-steve-smith-sr-crockett-gillmore-return-to-practice-as-10-players-sit-out-for-ravens-20151014-story.html