RADIO
There are very few teams that can comfortably be eliminated from the playoff conversation in August. I am starting to think Oakland is one of those rare teams that have no shot. To compound the point, their team has little to no fantasy value. I'm not sure whether to analyze the players or make fun of their ineptitude.
Oakland Raiders Quarterbacks
Matt Schaub aka“Pick Six Machine” has resurfaced after a disastrous 2013 season for the Texans. The outlook for this year: not good. With the move to Oakland Schaub has seen a downgrade in terms of his surrounding offensive pieces and he is learning a new system to boot. He may perform so poorly early in the season that a demotion is very possible.
Oakland drafted Derek Carr and while some people like him, he is not close to making an impact. Stay away from Raider quarterbacks for the foreseeable future.
Oakland Raiders Running Backs
In the offseason, the Raiders decided to bring back the enigmatic Darren McFadden and add the veteran workhorse Maurice Jones-Drew. How is this going to shake out? If the past is any indication, McFadden is likely to get nicked up in pregame warmups before making any kind of impact. Look for him as a late option with limited fantasy impact.
MJD has seen his best days, looking like most 30 year old runners with a ton of mileage. While it appears that Oakland will give him an opportunity to get more touches than McFadden, its impossible to determine his workload for the season. Expect him to be drafted in the 7-8th round and or be the 30th running back off the board. Once a fantasy star, MJD will have minimal impact in 2014. He has looked good in the preseason, but you shouldn't read too much into that.
Oakland Raiders Wide Receivers
If Oakland's quarterback play is a mess, it makes it harder to figure out the pecking order in targets. James Jones has been a third or fourth option in a great Green Bay offense. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to getting more attention as a bigger piece of the passing game. There is no denying that Jones has a knack for finding the end zone as he snagged 14 TDs two years ago. In their latest preseason game, Jones was targeted 10 times but only came down with four catches. Jones is owned in only 28% of Yahoo Leagues and will be mostly available as a free agent bench player.
Denarius Moore has shown flashes in the past season of big play potential. With 17 TDs in 3 seasons, he could eventually breakout out with the right quarterback. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely to happen this year. Rod Streater is a nice deep sleeper in PPR leagues, as he's been a consistent target in Oakland, and should be a solid but very unspectacular flex play in deep leagues.
Oakland Raiders Defense
Veteran AFC West quarterbacks are licking their chops waiting to get after Oakland’s D. It may be true that they are starting to collect some good young pieces for the future, but they are light years away from the vintage silver and black squads. The defense along with almost every other fantasy component of the Raiders is undraftable.
