Fantasy Football 2014: Denver Broncos RB Rundown
The Broncos are coming off a historic offensive season that carried them to the Super Bowl where they were promptly shut down by the Legion of Boom. One thing that can be easily lost in their massive fantasy football point output was that Denver ran the ball enough to transform Knowshon Moreno from a fantasy disappointment to the #5 scoring RB in standard leagues last season.
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The reason that there isn’t a Broncos RB higher than 10th on my top 80 list is definitely not due to the offensive system which is a fantasy machine for everyone involved. The question is who will be involved since there is a definite lack of proven options in the Denver backfield.
Whoever gets the carries in Denver will face defenses focused on stopping Peyton Manning and should find plenty of space to operate. They’ll also get plenty of chances to score since the Broncos offense is so incredibly efficient. So the big question when it comes to Broncos RB is how high to you rank unproven options that have huge upside in a great offense.
Here’s where I put each of the Broncos RB in my top 80 and a quick forecast on what I expect from them from a fantasy football perspective this season.
player. 45. Ball is one of the biggest rolls of the dice in this year’s fantasy football drafts. His upside is enormous in a great offense, but he didn’t seize the opportunity when it was given to him last year and is a big question mark going into the season. To further complicate his outlook, Ball has missed the preseason due to an emergency appendectomy and may not get on the field before week 1. He does have familiarity with the offense from last year and looked good in everything but pass protection last season. The problem is that pass protection is everything for a team with Peyton Manning, so Ball will need to fix that if he wants to stay on the field. If you can get Ball at the end of the first round or beginning of the second, he’s a swing-for-the-fences option that could pay off if he emerges as the feature back. Make sure to draft RB depth behind and around him, but Ball is a risk worth taking if you miss out on the more established options as your RB1. The depth behind him isn’t great, so I expect him to get a long look as the Broncos featured RB this season. . RB. Denver Broncos. Montee Ball. 10
RB. Denver Broncos. C.J. Anderson. 62. player. 45. If Ball slips up or can’t get healthy, who’s next up for the Broncos? It could be C.J. Anderson despite his relative inexperience and concussion sustained this preseason. He dropped weight this offseason and is favored to get the goal line looks if Ball struggles since Ronnie Hillman has fumble issues and is more of a change of pace option.
Hillman didn’t seize the job last season struggling with ball security and other mental mistakes throughout his time on the field. He’s still around and could get another crack at the Broncos RB job, but until he does it’s safe to leave him on the waiver wire. . RB. Denver Broncos. Ronnie. Hillman. NR. player. 45
This post is part of a series detailing the backfield situation for each NFL team from a fantasy football perspective. Check out my top 80 rankings and click here for the full series.