Darren McFadden is having a horrible season and he, along with the entire Raiders offense, is painful to watch. If I had to decide whether to watch the Raiders or be chained to a table while being forced to listen to the entire catalog of Starship, I'd have to think about it for a while.
McFadden was projected to be the best running back in this season's rookie class and the "can't miss" fantasy prospect of any rookie at any position. While he was drafted by a Raiders team that had a 1000 yard rusher in Justin Fargas, it was just assumed that McFadden's talent would get him significant playing time, if not the starting job.
That obviously hasn't happened as he only has 70 carries through 11 weeks of the season. I was pessimistic on McFadden's chances and even I predicted "four or five 100+ yard games and six to seven really poor games". So I guess that makes my prediction half-right.
The main problem isn't the Raiders' refusal to give McFadden carries, though that's obviously not helping. The main problem is that the Raiders are terrible this year and they'll probably be terrible next year. The offensive line is a disaster that will take more than one off-season to fix. Even though JaMarcus Russell has become a walking justification for a rookie salary cap, the Raiders would struggle with the cap hit they'd incur if they dumped him off. That doesn't mean they won't do it though.
Bringing in a new rookie (Matthew Stafford? Graham Herrell?) or a high-priced free agent (Matt Cassel?) is the type of crazy thing Al Davis might do anyway, but that still won't fix the problem as the new QB doesn't have anybody to catch the damn ball. The Raiders' leading receiver is TE Zach Miller with 430 yards, good for 51st in the league. In fact, out of the Top 155 receivers in the league, only two of them are Raiders. Unless Al Davis has some Madden Cheat Code-like ability to get Anquan Boldin, Greg Jennings and Wes Welker all into Silver and Black next season, a new quarterback isn't going to be enough.
Which brings me to the point of this post. Depending on the rules of your keeper league, I don't think Darren McFadden is worth keeping for next season. If you have the ability to take him and stash him away for four years then go for it. But if you need to spend a precious keeper slot on somebody that's expected to carry (or at least not kill) your team next year, then I don't see how you can keep McFadden. I don't see any reason to expect the Raiders will give McFadden 20+ carries a game next season and I don't see any reason to expect the required QB-WR-OL changes that are needed even if they do. Maybe your team is so tragic that McFadden is your best choice, but there are likely better keeper options for next year than Darren McFadden.