FanPost

Fantasy Owners Should Buy Stock in the Raiders Backfield




It seems like forever ago since fantasy owners struck gold drafting Darren McFadden during his 1,600 all-purpose yard, 10 touchdown season in 2010. Since then, only inconsistency has come from the Sliver and Black backfield.

All of that could change in 2014.

The off-season was nice to the Raiders, especially since they actually had money to spend.

Oakland lost their best offensive lineman in Jared Veldheer, but the Raiders front line was retooled with quality signings like Pro Bowl tackle Donald Penn and Super Bowl XLVI starting guard Kevin Boothe. Add in drafting 2013 All-SEC rookie guard Gabe Jackson, and the Oakland’s line should be just fine.

It shouldn’t be ignored that the Raiders ranked 12th in offensive rushing yards per game in 2013. The offensive linemen they kept on the roster clearly bought into the power-blocking scheme of second-year offensive-coordinator, Greg Olson.

In another free-agency victory, Raiders General Manager, Reggie McKenzie, was able to convince running back, Maurice Jones-Drew to come home to the Bay Area on a one-year "prove it" deal.

And that is the key to making the Raiders backfield valuable in 2014.

During McFadden’s best season as a pro in 2010, he was complimented nicely by a bruising Michael Bush’s 655 yards and 8 touchdowns.

While McFadden likely won’t be the feature back this season, that could be the key to getting him on the field for 16 games for the first time in his career.

Splitting carries with Jones-Drew will have both players getting a healthy amount of carries, which should lead them to high-end fantasy relevance.

In fantasy numbers, combo backfields have traditionally been a crapshoot, but recent examples could change that way of thinking.

Take a look at the numbers put up by the BillsFred Jackson-C.J. Spiller duo from 2013.

Both players tallied 200 carries for the season last year - the only pair of backs to do so. Fred Jackson ranked 10th in points among running backs in 2013, according to NFL.com numbers. Meanwhile, C.J. Spiller came in at 26th, and that was after a very slow start and sitting on questionable through most the season.

Spiller had high expectations and went in the first round in most leagues, but Jackson was drafted in the mid-rounds and proved to be a steal for most owners.

That’s where Run-DMC and MJD come into play.

Neither player should be a first round pick in 2014 drafts. Taking either player higher than the third round would be an extreme risk for any owner in a 12-team league.

But draft steals, especially at running back, can come in those mid-rounds – right where McFadden and Jones-Drew should fall.

If things go as planned in Oakland, where they plan to "run the ball, run the ball, then run it again, until the defense stops us" then buying low in the Raiders backfield should be a priority for fantasy owners.