Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is the No. 4-ranked quarterback in ESPN's first fantasy football ranking for 2015. As a Manning fan, I hate to ask this but is that too high?
Obviously, the Broncos are a great offense under Manning. They've scored an average of 34 points per game while producing 430 yards a week over the last two seasons. In that time frame, Manning has finished No. 1 and No. 2 in touchdown passes. But Manning is 39-years-old and coming off one of the worst stretches of football in his career.
Over Manning's last six games last year (including playoffs) he averaged just 230 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception per game. His fantasy outputs in those final five regular season games: 13, 2, 13, 12, 8. Hardly the work of a top flight fantasy QB.
Will Manning be able to bounce back under new head coach Gary Kubiak or will this new offense limit his fantasy production?
"He could well be more efficient in an offense that protects him better, cocooned in a better run game," ESPN Broncos reporter Jeff Legwold wrote. "Kubiak is adapting his playbook - that he's used for his career as an offensive play -caller - to Manning, a quarterback who hasn't played in the kind of West Coast offense Kubiak has run through the years.
"However, Kubiak is a shrewd offensive mind and will adjust, but until people see what he has in store for Manning, some wonder what it will all look like. In his time on Mike Shanahan's staff as Broncos offensive coordinator between 1995 and 2005, the Broncos attempted 550 or more passes in a season four times just before the passing numbers exploded league wide.
"In his tenure in Houston (2006-2013) Kubiak's Texans attempted at least 550 passes five times, including 633 in the 2-14 finish in '13."
