The Week 6 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders features division rivals with different approaches on offense. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 6: Chiefs-Raiders featuring Jamaal Charles, Derek Carr, Amari Cooper, more
We break down the Week 6 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Kansas City Chiefs
Running back Jamaal Charles says his health is at 110 percent. Week 6 will represent his first opportunity to prove that. He did see two carries in his season debut in Week 4, but coach Andy Reid wanted to bring him back slowly. Charles may not quite kick into full gear in Oakland, but he is certainly about to take some touches away from Spencer Ware. Fantasy owners who have been waiting this long to start Charles will go ahead and put him in the lineup. Fortunately for Charles, the Raiders rank near the bottom of the NFL in terms of defending opposing fantasy running backs. A solid effort on the West Coast will be a good opportunity for Charles to regain the confidence of the fantasy community.
Should he struggle in Week 6, tight end Travis Kelce might start seeing more frequent looks as a safety valve. Kelce only caught five passes for 23 yards against Pittsburgh in Week 4 but a garbage-time touchdown saved his fantasy day. Kelce has scored in back-to-back games and he has at least five receptions in each game this year. As generous as the Raiders are to running backs, they are even more relaxed defending the tight end position. Kelce’s fantasy owners will be smiling after the game on Sunday.
Oakland Raiders
Don’t look now but the Oakland Raiders are on a hot streak. The silver and black have won three straight games. Quarterback Derek Carr is a big reason for that success. He threw for 317 yards and two touchdown passes against the San Diego Chargers in Week 5. The Raiders don’t have much of a running game but they do have Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper at their disposal in the passing game. That’s why Carr is a good bet to continue putting up big numbers all year long. Despite getting smoked by the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4, the Chiefs are fairly good against opposing quarterbacks. Fortunately for Carr’s fantasy owners, he’s one of the top passers in the league. Three touchdowns and 300 yards is never out of the question for Oakland’s leader.
That’s especially true now that Mr. Cooper has snapped out of his own personal slump. The second-year pass catcher managed six receptions for 138 yards, a touchdown, and a two-point conversion against the Chargers. All of those totals represent season highs. It will undoubtedly be challenging for him to repeat his success against Marcus Peters and the Chiefs, but Cooper does have the talent and the quarterback to make that happen. He’s become a reliable fantasy starter in just his second NFL season, but Cooper is in tough this time around. There’s a good chance he fails to reach his projected totals in Week 6.
