The Week 5 matchup between the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders features a veteran Super Bowl contender against a young upstart surprise. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 5: Broncos-Raiders featuring Peyton Manning, Ronnie Hillman and Derek Carr
We break down the Week 5 matchup between the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders.
Denver Broncos
The Broncos’ path to an undefeated record so far hasn’t exactly been a pretty one. Quarterback Peyton Manning isn’t blowing away opponents the way he used to, yet he still wins games. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, there’s a good chance they’re not undefeated if they are starting Peyton. He threw for just 213 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions against the Minnesota Vikings last week. He’s now thrown up a dud performance in two of the four games the team has played this season. The good news for Manning is that the Oakland Raiders have found themselves in high-scoring games this year, so he could be in for a big bounce-back performance on Sunday.
The fact that running back Ronnie Hillman has scored touchdowns in each of the last two weeks might help open up some room in the passing game. He was particularly good against the Vikings, notching the first 100-yard rushing game of the season for any Broncos running back. Hillman’s results also hurt the fantasy value of teammate C.J. Anderson, who simply hasn’t been able to get going this year. Even Hillman’s recent production could be smoke and mirrors given that he got the majority of his yards last week on one play. Either way, Hillman is the Broncos running back to own right now.
Oakland Raiders
After throwing for 665 yards and five touchdown passes in Weeks 2 and 3 combined, quarterback Derek Carr came crashing back down to Earth last week against the Chicago Bears. He finished the game with just 196 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception. It would be unrealistic to expect him to throw for 300 yards every week anyway, but in general he’s been impressive. A tough matchup against the Broncos is really going to challenge him, but Carr has lots of talent and experiences like the one he’s about to go through will only make him better in the long run.
This Sunday showdown should also be a good litmus test for wide receiver Amari Cooper. Of all of the young talented prospects selected in the draft last summer, Cooper is one of the guys who has proven he’s the real deal thus far. He has at least one touchdown or 100 receiving yards in each of the last three weeks. More importantly, he’s being targeted frequently. Cooper has seen the ball come his way at least nine times in every single game this season. He’s a clear-cut No.1 pass catcher and only an injury can change that at this point.
