Josh Downs start or sit: Week 5 fantasy football advice

The Indianapolis Colts lost their first game last week at home to the Rams. Now at 3-1, they stay home as 6.5-point favorites against the struggling 1-3 Raiders. So far, the Colts offense has revolved around league leading rusher Jonathon Taylor, rookie tight end Tyler Warren and WR1 Michael Pittman. If left to their druthers, the Colts would let Taylor and their defense do all the heavy lifting, but that’s not always how it goes.

The quick ascension of Warren has pushed Josh Downs down the target totem pole so far this season and that seems like it will be the norm moving forward. Downs showed really well last season, but he occupies some of the same spaces as Warren and the rookies ability after the catch is superior.

Below, we’ll go over Josh Downs’ outlook in fantasy football for Week 5.

So far, the Raiders have given up good receiving games to Kayshon Boutte, Quentin Johnston, Keenan Allen, Luke McCaffrey, and Rome Odunze. Overall they’ve allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to wide receivers this season. The matchup is good, while the usage is not. That leads me to try to predict the game flow for this matchup, and it doesn’t look great for the passing game.

As big home favorites with one of the best running backs in the league at their disposal, I’d expect the Colts to slow this game down and look to dominate on the ground and then push Geno Smith to throw and hopefully continue to throw interceptions. Downs doesn’t really factor into this game as a key participant. I still like his skill set and if he can start getting more work, I’d be more than happy to roster and start him, but for now, he’s a no-go for me.

Sit.

Sit.