Lamar Jackson Is Cleared and Vega Ioane Makes His First Start at Center as Baltimore Lays 11.5 to Tennessee

The Baltimore Ravens will snap the ball to a rookie on Sunday. Baltimore placed centers Ethan Pocic (knee) and Jovaughn Gwyn (lower leg) on injured reserve Saturday, elevated interior lineman Kyle Hergel from the practice squad, and are set to start first-round pick Vega Ioane at center when the 0-3 Tennessee Titans visit M&T Bank Stadium at 1 p.m. ET on CBS.

The good news sits behind Ioane. Lamar Jackson, limited Wednesday with a back injury, practiced fully Thursday and Friday and carries no game designation. Head coach Jesse Minter called the issue minor, and the 2-1 Ravens enter as roughly 11.5-point home favorites.

How Baltimore lost two centers in one afternoon

Both injuries came in last Sunday's 34-31 win over Dallas in Rio de Janeiro. Gwyn, who won the starting job in training camp, was carted off and reportedly suffered a fractured fibula that could cost him multiple months. Pocic replaced him and then hurt his knee, which forced Baltimore to slide Ioane from right guard to center for the final two drives, including the 7-second march that set up Tyler Loop's 56-yard game-winning field goal.

Minter said both injuries look like they will be somewhat long term. The IR placements guarantee each player misses at least four games, a stretch that covers Tennessee, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Baltimore was already thin at the position: Danny Pinter tore a patellar tendon in camp, and former Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum left in free agency for Las Vegas.

Ioane, the 14th overall pick out of Penn State, now makes his first NFL start at a position he did not open the season playing. Andrew Vorhees took over at right guard against Dallas and is the logical fill-in there again.

The full injury picture

The line is not just missing its centers. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley (toe) sat out the Dallas game and is questionable after missing Friday's practice for rest. Zay Flowers (hamstring) is also questionable after being downgraded from full Thursday to limited Friday, though the team framed Friday as rest.

Inactives are released roughly 90 minutes before kickoff. If Stanley sits again, Baltimore would be starting a rookie center and a backup left tackle on the same afternoon, which matters more for Jackson's pocket than for the run game.

Fantasy fallout

Lamar Jackson remains a locked-in QB1. He has 745 passing yards and four touchdowns through three games and threw for 186 yards and two scores on 15 of 20 passing in Rio while adding 50 rushing yards. A shaky interior line tends to push Jackson outside the pocket, and that is where his rushing floor lives. The back is not a reason to bench him.

Derrick Henry is the bigger question on paper and the smaller one in practice. He has 301 rushing yards and a league-leading six rushing touchdowns, including 89 yards and two scores against Dallas, where he passed Marcus Allen for third on the career rushing touchdown list. The concern is Tennessee: after allowing 142 rushing yards to Jets backs in Week 1, the Titans have not let any single running back past 60 yards since, and they rank inside the top 12 in yards per carry allowed. A rookie center making line calls against a front that has been stout is a real yardage risk. Henry's appeal this week is goal-line work in a game Baltimore should control, so treat him as an RB1 driven by touchdown equity rather than a 150-yard ceiling play.

Zay Flowers is the true decision. He caught a 27-yard pass to set up the winning kick in Brazil and finished that game with five catches for 84 yards plus a 20-yard run. The Friday downgrade was described as rest, but a hamstring that needed to be tested in-game a week ago deserves respect. If he is active, he is a WR2 with a capped snap count possible in a likely blowout script.

Mark Andrews shed his injury designation with full practices all week and is a solid TE1 option. With a young center and possibly a backup left tackle, quick-game targets over the middle are the natural answer to pressure, which fits Andrews' role.

Betting angle

The market has Baltimore around -11.5 with a total in the 42.5 to 43.5 range depending on the book, and the moneyline has been posted in the -750 to -800 range. Tennessee has scored just 12.3 points per game and, per Action Network, has yet to run an offensive play while leading this season. Cam Ward has 504 passing yards and two touchdowns and has been held to 183 yards or fewer in three straight games.

The case for the Titans is structural, not talent-based. Winless road underdogs have historically covered at a 27-15 rate in Week 4, and a double-digit number asks a Ravens offense with a reshuffled line to keep its foot down for four quarters. Tennessee's defense has allowed 19.7 points per game, 10th in the league, which is respectable for an 0-3 team.

The cleaner angle is the total. Tennessee's offense rarely sustains drives, Baltimore's line changes could stall a few possessions, and Henry-heavy scripts drain the clock. That lean toward a lower-scoring game is consistent with both the Titans' point output and their run defense numbers. Verdexed's full game projections, including this matchup, live at /nfl/predictions.

What to do in your league

Start Jackson without hesitation. Start Henry, but temper yardage expectations and lean on him as a touchdown play. In DFS, Henry at lower ownership is defensible because Baltimore projects to own the red zone, but the Titans' run defense makes him a weaker cash-game play than his name suggests.

For Flowers, check the 1 p.m. ET inactive list. If he is active, play him. If he is ruled out, the tight ends absorb a larger share of the targets, and Andrews moves up as a borderline top-five tight end for the week. Do not chase Chris Moore, who is questionable himself with an ankle.

Fade the Titans' skill players outside of deep leagues. Tony Pollard, who has averaged 4.5 yards per carry, is a flex option at best given the likely negative game script.

What's next

Ioane's first full game at center is the storyline to watch, especially on snap exchanges and interior pressure allowed. Gwyn and Pocic cannot return until after the Pittsburgh game at the earliest, so whatever Ioane shows Sunday is the line Baltimore rides through October. Stanley's toe and Flowers' hamstring are the two statuses that will carry into next week's matchup with Cleveland, which has jumped out to a 3-1 start atop the AFC North.