Lamar Jackson Is Ruled Out Against the Bengals, and Tyler Huntley Makes a Third Straight Start With First Place on the Line

The Ravens settled the biggest question of the Week 7 Sunday slate a day early. Baltimore downgraded Lamar Jackson from questionable to out on Saturday, and Tyler Huntley will make his third consecutive start when the Ravens host the Cincinnati Bengals at 1 p.m. ET. Jackson has not played since spraining his left ankle in the Oct. 4 win over Tennessee, and this will be his third straight missed game.

The decision ends a week of mixed signals. Jackson was limited in all three practices, his first on-field work since the injury, and head coach Jesse Minter had said the team would carry the call as long as it needed to. In the end the Ravens chose not to push a high ankle sprain in a division game, and for fantasy managers who held Jackson into the weekend, the answer arrived with plenty of time to pivot.

Where the Ravens stand without him

Huntley has been a capable caretaker rather than a solution. He has not thrown an interception in three appearances this season, and he is 1-1 as the starter: a 30-23 overtime win in Atlanta in Week 5 and a 13-10 loss in Cleveland in Week 6. The Cleveland game is the one that should worry Baltimore backers. The Ravens scored on their first two possessions and then were shut out the rest of the afternoon, and the loss dropped them to 4-2 and gave the Browns first place in the AFC North on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Cincinnati arrives rested. The Bengals are coming off their bye and listed nobody with a game designation on their final report, which clears Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins for a full-strength visit to M&T Bank Stadium. The Bengals entered the week at 3-2 and in last place in the division despite the winning record, so this is a game both teams badly want before the midpoint of the season.

Baltimore's own injury list stretches beyond the quarterback. The team's final report also ruled out center Cam Jurgens, guard Andrew Vorhees and defensive lineman Broderick Washington Jr., a reminder that the interior line Huntley is working behind has already been patched more than once this fall.

Fantasy fallout: who to start, who to sit

Derrick Henry is the one Raven to start without hesitation. His volume does not depend on who is under center, and if anything, a Huntley-led offense leans harder on the run to protect its quarterback. He remains a low-end RB1 with touchdown equity, even against a rested defense.

Tyler Huntley is a usable body in Superflex and two-quarterback formats, where his rushing gives him a floor, but he is not a one-quarterback starter. The Cleveland game showed how quickly the passing offense shrinks once a defense takes away the first read.

The Baltimore pass catchers are the hardest calls. Zay Flowers keeps his target share with Huntley, but his ceiling shrinks with a quarterback who rarely pushes the ball downfield, which drops him into WR3 and flex range. Mark Andrews turns into a touchdown-dependent tight end play, with Josh Cuevas already cutting into his role. In deeper leagues Andrews is startable because the position is thin, but he does not carry the floor he would with Jackson.

For Cincinnati, the news is a mild boost. Chase and Higgins are must-starts every week, and a Ravens offense that struggles to sustain drives could hand the Bengals extra possessions. Chase Brown gets a cleaner game script as well if Cincinnati plays with a lead.

Betting angle: the market already moved

This is not a surprise to the betting market, which spent the week hedging. Cincinnati was briefly favored in Baltimore at midweek, the Ravens drifted back toward a small home favorite by Friday, and the total slid from the low 50s toward 48.5 at several books as the Jackson news soured. Saturday's downgrade confirms what the number was already pricing.

That leaves two angles worth considering. First, a lower total with Huntley at quarterback still depends on Cincinnati's offense, which has had two weeks to prepare and is fully healthy. Second, the Ravens' recent first-half pattern is notable: in Cleveland they were strong early and stalled late, so live bettors may find better numbers on Cincinnati after the opening quarter than before kickoff.

The Verdexed model take

Verdexed's model logs every NFL game each week, and its view on Bengals at Ravens is published in the weekly picks page at /blog/nfl-week-7-picks-2026 and on /nfl/predictions. That board already listed Huntley as Baltimore's starter and Jackson among the Ravens' absences, so Saturday's downgrade does not change the inputs it used. Readers looking for the model's pick should go there rather than to a line quoted here.

What the model cannot fully capture is how Baltimore's game plan changes. Expect Minter and the offensive staff to lean on designed quarterback runs, quick game and Henry between the tackles, which shortens the game and keeps Burrow on the sideline. That is the formula that won in Atlanta. Cleveland showed what happens when it does not work.

What's next

Jackson's next opportunity to play is Week 8, when Baltimore faces the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Nov. 1. Buffalo is on bye this week, so it will arrive fresh, and Jackson's practice participation on Wednesday and Thursday will be the first meaningful signal about his availability. A full practice would point toward a return. Another limited week would put him on the same game-time path he was on this week.

For fantasy managers, the play is to keep Jackson rostered and stashed. High ankle sprains are slow, but a healthy Jackson is a weekly top-three quarterback and the upside over the second half of the season is too large to give up. For Week 7, start Henry, start the Bengals' top weapons, and treat everyone else in purple as a matchup decision.