Las Vegas Raiders fantasy outlook: Week 9 Sit ’em or Start ’em

Quarterback

Derek Carr – Start ‘Em

Last week we put down Derek Carr as a starter but we made sure to call out the weather as a possible factor in his performance and that was on point. The crazy winds in Cleveland effectively neutralized the Raider passing game and Carr threw for just over 100 yards on a blustery day.

He did however manage to throw for a short touchdown to Hunter Renfrow and would have had another to Henry Ruggs which would have put Carr in the top 15 for the week in standard leagues. The refs apparently saw something that no one else in America did and called the pass incomplete which wrecked Ruggs’ day and shorted Carr 4 points.

Carr added 41 yards on the day which took his performance, from a fantasy perspective, from disastrous to decent. We should expect to see him run more now that he looks more comfortable doing so and could even do it on designed zone reads as he did against the Browns.

The matchup with the Chargers is a juicy one on paper as they are currently 21st in passing yards and touchdowns allowed which probably has something to do with all of those comebacks against them. Carr generally plays pretty well against the Chargers and last year threw for 500 yards, two touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown in two games with a weaker offense around him. Expect a big game from Carr in Week 9.