WR Torrey Smith, Baltimore Ravens

HT: 6-0, WT: 204, Born: 1-26-1989, College: Maryland, Drafted: Round 2

2013 Projections

Average draft position

Current as of May 6th. [Full ADP list]

Overall: M Stafford (58), V Ballard (59), Torrey Smith (60), A Brown (61), R Wilson (62)
Position: P Garcon (56-WR22), M Wallace (57-WR23), Torrey Smith (60 - WR24), A Brown (61-WR25), D Amendola (64-WR26)
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PPR Average draft position

Current as of May 6th. [Full PPR ADP list]

Overall: M Wallace (61), A Brown (62), Torrey Smith (63), R Wilson (64), G Jennings (65)
Position: M Wallace (61-WR24), A Brown (62-WR25), Torrey Smith (63 - WR26), G Jennings (65-WR27), S Smith (66-WR28)
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Outlook

It was easy to predict growth for Torrey Smith between his 2011 rookie season and his second season in 2012. There is a little more uncertainty in Smith's outlook this offseason, though. The departure of veteran receiver Anquan Boldin means that the focus of the opposing pass defenses will be on Smith first and foremost. Smith showed inconsistency last season, having a number of very good games but also some where he was nearly invisible. In a way, he and Joe Flacco have the same problem (regular season inconsistency), and they're the people who should have the biggest impact on whether or not each can overcome that inconsistency. With his skill set (defense-stretching speed) and his quarterback (big arm, great deep ball thrower), Smith may be a "boom or bust" player again this year.

2013 Schedule

2012 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Smith was largely quiet against the Bengals. Despite his dynamic downfield speed, quarterback Joe Flacco seemed locked in on spreading the ball around on routes 10-15 yards downfield. He did catch Flacco's first pass of the night, a 52 yard bomb down the middle of the field where Smith's explosiveness appeared to catch the Bengals defense flat footed. Smith also had a 13 yard gain on a reverse where his speed helped him get around the left side of the line for a large gain before being pushed out of bounds by Taylor Mays. Smith was targeted on deep routes three times resulting in one catch, one incompletion, and one pass interference penalty drawn. Smith primarily ran go routes and deep crossing patterns. His presence no doubt opened up the field underneath for Dennis Pitta and Anquan Boldin as the Ravens had very little trouble picking up yards on mid-range passing plays.

Week 2 - Because of Joe Flacco's short internal clock, and his blatant preference to pass to Dennis Pitta all day, Torrey Smith saw very few targets. He was completely anonymous until he caught a curl route for 10 yards towards the end of the first half. Smith's only other reception should have been a touchdown, but Joe Flacco failed to lead him towards the endzone on a deep ball down the sideline. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was lined up over him, but blew the coverage on the play. Cromartie appeared to be expecting safety help, which never came, so he played outside technique leaving Smith to run free upfield. Smith was wide open but had to turn and catch the football while falling to the ground. By the time he caught the ball, Cromartie had caught up to mark him down by contact.

Week 3 - Flacco only had four passes of 20 or more yards last week. This week, he had three to Smith alone. Smith is the clear first option in Baltimore and it’s not even close. He was the only wide receiver that Flacco completely trusted. The ball was thrown his way even if Smith was double covered. His first catch was a 25-yard touchdown that was underthrown. Smith jumped over the defender and caught the ball in front of him. He caught two other balls while being interfered with – including a spectacular effort on his second touchdown – and drew a third holding penalty. The Patriots defense secondary could not cover him. Smith also showed fantastic timing with Flacco. The 127 yards was his best effort since a 165 yard game last November against Cincinnati.

Week 4 - Smith followed up his big night vs. the Patriots with another WR1-type showing. He looked very fluid on his routes and was a hands-catcher. He ran slants, quick hitches and curls in addition to his usual nines and posts. On his 18-yard touchdown catch, Smith’s blazing speed got him to the goal line in a flash and he pulled in Flacco’s perfect spiral.

Week 5 - Torrey Smith had a quiet afternoon seeing very few targets and even fewer catches. He made a quick slant look easy in the first quarter and had a 25 yard gain on a screen called back because of a penalty. His biggest gain came on a 26 yard gain in the fourth quarter, most of which was YAC.

Week 6 - Smith was only able to catch half of his four targets against Dallas but did have a nice touchdown catch for a 19 yard gain. On the play, Smith made a sharp cut to the right side to haul in the well-thrown Joe Flacco pass. Smith continues to run mostly deep routes and uses a variety of double-moves to try and gain separation downfield. The Dallas defense wisely rotated a safety to his side to cover him over the top and minimize the chance for long gains. He remains the Ravens favored deep threat in the passing game.

Week 7 - Smith was targeted 13 times by Joe Flacco but only finished the day with 4 catches. Smith was primarily guarded by Jonathan Joseph who was listed on the injury report with a sore groin. Regardless, Joseph had little trouble denying Smith the ball and finished the day with an interception return for a touchdown. Smith primarily ran sideline go routes and double moves to go with deep posts. On the occasion that his raw speed helped him gain separation from the Texan defense, quarterback Joe Flacco was already under duress and unable to find his speedy receiver downfield. Smith's best catch came on a thirteen yard pickup on a crossing pattern to the middle of the field. On the play, Smith was able to use his quickness to shake his man enough to make the catch as he crossed between two defenders. Smith was also the target for another Flacco interception. On the play, Smith was targeted in the middle of the field but Grover Quinn stepped in front of the pass to secure the ball for the Texans.

Week 9 - Smith caught a well thrown football from Joe Flacco over Joe Haden down the right sideline. Haden was in good position but Smith jumped above him to high point the football. Smith caught a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage, felt pressure that didn't exist so span backwards before being tackled for a five yard loss. Smith caught another screen pass late in the second quarter that went for five yards. The Ravens took a shot to Smith in the third quarter deep down the left sideline, but Smith couldn't make the difficult reception while falling out of bounds. Boldin followed that up with another bad screen pass when he dropped a wide open play. Smith made up for all of those drops late in the fourth quarter when he caught a quick curl route underneath, before beating the Browns' defense down the sideline for a touchdown.

Week 10 - After being invisible on offense for the first 20 minutes of the game, Smith came to life. Flacco targeted him often down the field and the opportunity was there for an even bigger fantasy day. After nearly coming down with two separate deep jump balls in the end zone in the first half, Smith made his plays in the second half. On play-action, Smith came wide open down the field to break open the game early in the third quarter. Following a special teams fumble by Oakland, Flacco and Smith immediately turned that mistake into points with a contested slant route touchdown. Overall, Smith converted two of his five deep opportunities into touchdowns and reminds fantasy owners how efficient he can be on just a few receptions. Despite having just 31 receptions on the season, Smith has scored seven times, including four in the past four games. He is one of the best big play receivers in the league and can turn any target into a touchdown.

Week 11 - Torrey Smith’s lack of production was a product of Pittsburgh’s game plan. Dick Lebeau matched Ike Taylor up against Smith and routinely rolled Ryan Clark to his side. During the first half, Smith was targeted six times, but none of the targets were catchable. When Smith was double covered by Taylor and Clark, Joe Flacco wisely threw the ball out of bounds. Smith had one red zone target, but Clark’s help over the top broke up the play.

Even though Pittsburgh mixed up its coverage throughout the game, Taylor always had Clark’s help over the top. During the fourth quarter, Smith made his sole reception on a quick slant route against relaxed zone coverage.

Week 12 - Smith had a huge afternoon with a game-high 144 yards to pace both teams. He had a relatively quiet first half, though he did make a nice grab on the sideline to convert a third down pass play. He had his jersey grabbed just after the catch to take him down; otherwise, he might have been able to go the distance after the catch. Smith finally broke a big gain in the second half with a short sideline grab that he quickly turned into a huge gain. After a handful of missed tackles, he took off down the middle of the field. Soon after, he limped off with a thigh bruise but he soon returned. Late in the fourth quarter, he picked up receptions on three consecutive plays, turning a previously solid game (3 catches for 73 yards) into a very good one (6 catches for 113 yards). In the overtime, he drew a pass interference on a sideline route and then was targeted on a very deep pass on the next play that got knocked away by the defender at the last minute. Smith did haul in a reception in the overtime on one of the two most important plays of the game (the other being Ray Rice’s 29-yard reception on 4th and 29). Smith got loose down the sideline and made a fantastic catch on third and ten, seemingly hovering in the air for a bit while waiting for the ball to come down. He showed awesome hands and managed to maintain possession all the way to the ground, which set up the eventual game-winning field goal four plays later.

Week 13 - Smith's first target was a deep ball on play action when he beat Ike Taylor in single coverage. Smith dropped it as he elevated with Taylor pressuring him. Flacco went straight back to Smith on a slant route that picked up 12 yards. Smith was missed on the next play, as Flacco threw over his head, but on the same curl route outside the numbers they connected for eight yards on the following play. Flacco again overthrew Smith on the same route to outside when he was wide open underneath. After underthrowing him in the endzone, Flacco hit Smith on a deep out for a 15 yard gain. Flacco took another shot to Smith in the endzone one play later, when the receiver drew a pass interference penalty against Cortez Allen who had replaced the injured Ike Taylor in the starting lineup. Smith beat Cortez Allen deep down the left sideline, but dropped the pass just inside the pylon.

Week 14 - Primed for a huge day against the Redskins’ punchline of a secondary, Smith delivered a disappointing line in Sunday’s box score. The second-year receiver caught one pass for twenty-one yards on a curl route that he took for several yards after the catch. Joe Flacco only targeted Smith three times and overthrew him twice. The quarterback and his speedy receiver were simply not in sync against the Redskins, and the Ravens had better fortune running the offense on the ground. Flacco also seemed content to check the ball down to running backs and tight ends, as he targeted wide receivers on a mere seven of his twenty-six pass attempts.



Week 15 - While all the Ravens wide receivers had fairly quiet days, this marked the 4th game in 5 weeks that Torrey Smith had less than 35 yards, and the 3rd time in 5 weeks that Smith was held to 1 reception. Champ Bailey covered Smith for much of the afternoon, which is a recipe for a small day most of the time. Smith nearly caught a very nice 25 yard jump ball, but landed just out of bounds. Other than that, Smith had a mere 3 targets on a very quiet day.

Week 16 - Torrey Smith had a very impressive game on Sunday and was very important to the Ravens dominating victory over the Giants. Smith’s day started off fast as he scored his only touchdown in the redzone in the first quarter. Smith used his hands well to get inside leverage against the NYG DB and then Flacco hit him in the chest for the easy touchdown pass. Smith then used a double move on CB Webster to beat him deep using his electric speed. Smith hauled in a perfect pass from Flacco over his head and was very unlucky not to get into the endzone for the second time, falling down at the 1 yard line instead. He looked like a well rounded WR against NYG, using speed, quickness and solid hands to torture CB Webster all game long. Smith made another terrific grab on a back shoulder fade, outstretching one hand to haul in the pass for a big third down. Smith later drew a pass interference penalty that was somewhat questionable but it was another contribution from the WR that set up the Ravens nicely near the redzone.

Week 18 - While taking a secondary role in the passing game to teammate Anquan Boldin, Smith made the most of limited opportunities. As the game progressed, the Baltimore’s play-calling opened up, creating more chances for Smith down the field. He high-pointed a deep crossing route as the Ravens moved into Colts territory on one drive as his highlight reception of the day. He received an end zone target, but following the leaping catch, his momentum took him out of bounds. Early in the game, he drew a defensive pass interference call on a slant route. While Smith is capable of a game-breaking performance, this week Anquan Boldin and the run game was more of the focus in the victory over Indianapolis.

Week 19 - Smith saw Champ Bailey quite a bit in coverage this week and was more than up for the challenge. He got behind Bailey deep with regularity, scoring two long touchdowns and just missing two other big gains. He left Bailey shaking his head and sucking air heavily on more than one occasion. Smith showed that rare extra gear to acceleration to a pass that looks too far down the field on his first touchdown on the game. He can separate with just his last few steps of a route to create the needed space to turn a long catch into a touchdown. On his second score, Smith adjusted to a jump ball down the sideline with ease, elevating high above Bailey for the ball. In overtime, Smith let a short target go right through his hands, but rebounded to draw a defensive pass interference penalty, again on Bailey, to convert a third down. While Smith has shown an ability to have more short and intermediate plays in 2012, he was not used in that capacity often. Against Denver Smith showed his prowess as a deep target, but will need to expand on that role to move into the upper echelon of NFL and fantasy receivers in 2013.

Week 20 - Smith wasn't involved until the beginning of the second quarter when he caught a deep in route between two defenders. Smith had to extend to high point the football and did well to absorb a hit. Flacco couldn't connect with Smith deep on two attempts, but then found him across the middle for a five yard gain. On second and 14, Smith caught a 23 yard pass on a deep post route against zone coverage. Smith caught a deep in route on first and 10 for a first down.