Welcome to the Fantasy Football Rankings for Week 5. Please feel free to contact us with any specific line-up questions or general thoughts on the rankings.
Quarterbacks
1. Manning; 2. Shaun Hill; 3. Romo; 4. Brees; 5. Rodgers; 6. Schaub; 7. Orton; 8. Sam Bradford; 9. Matt Cassel; 10. Rivers
11. Alex Smith; 12. Flacco; 13. Matt Ryan; 14. Palmer; 15. Josh Freeman; 16. Eli Manning; 17. Favre; 18. McNabb; 19. Vince Young, 20. Mark Sanchez
Comments:
- Could be a shoot-out in Detroit this week. Both teams will try to establish the run and may do it – but both teams will eventually run out of patience and start throwing a ton. Shaun Hill is a good QB and so is Sam Bradford.
- I like Romo to get it going this week. Tenn’s D gave up a bunch of passing yards to Kyle Orton last week and my guess is Tenn’s D will be focused on stuffing the run that the Cowboys so badly want to uncork.
- Though the Chiefs may try to run the ball early, if they fall behind (I assume they will) they will need to pass. I see this game as a true test for Matt Cassel and I think he’ll have an opportunity to open things up. He’ll be looking at TE Tony Moeaki quite a bit this week.
- Other folks put Matt Ryan pretty high this week but I don’t see that. I think he’ll be decent, but not statistically overwhelming. I see this game as a grind-it-out running game battle played on a condensed field.
- There is a chance the Packers/Redskins game could devolve into a game similar to the Texans/Redskins game of a few weeks ago. Earlier in the week, I thought it would be more of a defensive/short-yardage battle but with the Packers’ injuries on defense, I think it’s possible this becomes a shoot-out. So, Rodgers and McNabb may end up doing quite well.
- I was tempted to put Vince Young a bit higher. He’ll be excited to return to Texas for this big game and if Chris Johnson’s woes continue, he may put the Tenn offense on his shoulders and do OK.
- I considered putting Josh Freeman even higher this week. Seems like a questionable thought considering Cincy’s defense (and particularly their secondary) has been pretty tough. But TB will have to throw and sooner or later, people will start to realize TB has a QB who can play.
NEXT: TheDC Fantasy Outsider evaluates the top 25 RBs
Running Backs
1. Cedric Benson; 2. Jahvid Best; 3. DeAngelo Williams; 4. Frank Gore; 5. MJD; 6. Steven Jackson; 7. Fred Jackson; 8. Arian Foster; 9. Ray Rice; 10. Michael Turner; 11. Peyton Hillis; 12. Ryan Torain
13. Felix Jones; 14. Adrian Peterson; 15. Chris Johnson; 16. Ryan Mathews; 17. Ahmad Bradshaw; 18. Matt Forte; 19. Beanie Wells; 20. Ray Rice; 21. Mike Tolbert; 22. Michael Bush; 23. Jamaal Charles; 24. Chris Ivory; 25. LT
Comments:
- Rather unconventional top 3 I know – but all three have decent match-ups and all 3 should get the ball a lot. Benson is due for a monster game and this is a game Cincy will very much want to control early (so lots of run plays). Best is tough for defenses to track down and Detroit will tee off on a mostly untested StL defense. And DeAngelo is bound to go nuts one of these weeks. The Bears sputtering offense will wear out their defense and Carolina’s lack of faith in their QB will force John Fox to run all day. Also Carolina’s only WR threat Steve Smith is out with an injury. So DeAngelo all day.
- I like Ryan Torrain against the Packers – especially as a backfield passing option. Both he and Cooley should do well in space as the Pack will be without their 2 starting middle LBs who typically cover that space.
- Don’t think Hillis’ practice injury yesterday is serious. Funny, teams now know that they shut him down and they pretty much win, but he may just be that good. Eric Mangini had a great quote the other day indicating that even he tries to avoid him in the hallways when he sees him.
- Ray Rice may also go off. We’ve been waiting for him to have one of his monster games and while injury slowed him last week, it’s possible he gets back into his backfield receiving groove and does some damage.
- One guy who has the speed to outrun the unusually fast Indy defense is Jamaal Charles. If Haley lets him take the lead (instead of Thomas Jones), I can see KC getting some positive offensive momentum and Charles having a good day.
- I like Chris Ivory this week. If he can avoid fumbling (2 fumbles in 2 games) and stay in the game, he runs recklessly and AZ could have trouble dealing with both Ivory and the NO passing game.
- I did consider putting Matt Forte higher, but the whole world knows the Bears are going to try and run now that Cutler isn’t playing. He could still have receptions but unless the Carolina defense is just THAT bad, not sure Forte will repeat his Week 1 performance for a while.
To read TheDC sports columnist Andy Hayes’ Week 5 NFL picks, click here.