Fantasy football: Mark Andrews could see a big Fantasy boost with Hayden Hurst out of the picture

In just his second pro season, Mark Andrews emerged as Baltimore's top target and finished fifth in Fantasy scoring at the tight end position. His 2.89 yards per route run in 2019 has been bested by just one tight end (George Kittle) since route counts became available in 2006. It was a historically efficient year for Andrews, and seemingly the only thing that kept him from the TE1 finish was a lack of playing time -- Andrews accomplished all of this while playing just 41 percent of the snaps.

Andrews was out-snapped by Nick Boyle, who is an integral part of the team's rushing attack. With the Ravens unlikely to repeat their historically unprecedented volume on the ground in 2020, Boyle's snap rate could drop slightly. Add to that the fact that Andrews no longer has to compete for passing down reps with Hayden Hurst -- who Baltimore drafted ahead of Andrews just two years ago -- and it becomes clear that Andrews is in store for a larger role in 2020.

How much larger, though? The answer to that question could be the difference between projecting Andrews for 95 or 105 targets, and every target counts when considering how efficient the Lamar Jackson-to-Mark Andrews connection was last year. And, hopefully, we will have a better idea of how to answer that question as we get closer to the start of the regular season.

Andrews is an awesome player who can dominate all areas of the field, but where he really piled up the Fantasy points was when operating from the slot. 64.1 percent of his total routes in 2019 came aligned in the slot, and 66 of his 97 targets came from the slot. Andrews' ridiculous 3.69 yards per route run from the slot was the highest rate of any player in the history of the NFL (minimum 50 targets).

The Ravens loved to use Hayden Hurst to create mismatches in the slot too, though. 49.8 percent of Hurst's routes in 2019 came from the slot, and Baltimore hasn't made any effort to fill his role heading into 2020. Rookie Devin Duvernay can operate from the slot, but I'd expect him to cut into Willie Snead's role if anything.

If Andrews picks up even half of Hurst's routes from the slot, or if Baltimore simply passes more in 2020 than in 2019, he could be looking at 110-plus targets. Most projections have him right around 95-100 targets, so an increase in snaps -- particularly from the slot -- would present a huge boost to his Fantasy value. Keep an eye on the word from Baltimore's camp, and watch Andrews' usage in the Ravens preseason games, because he might end up being a huge value in the fourth-round of Fantasy drafts.