Oakland Raiders fantasy preview

Warren Sharp’s Strength of Schedule: Warren Sharp projects the Raiders to face the 4th-most difficult overall offensive schedule.

Must Draft

Josh Jacobs is the only reliable player the Raiders have to offer. That being said, he’s entirely volume-dependent. Jon Gruden will want Jacobs to pop off stat sheets in an attempt to prove that he made the right call, drafting him in the 1st Round of 2019’s NFL Draft. Expect close to 300 touches for the rookie -- a touch-volume that should buoy him into satisfying his 3rd Round ADP.

Good Values

Josh Jacobs is the only reliable player the Raiders have to offer. That being said, he’s entirely volume-dependent. Jon Gruden will want Jacobs to pop off stat sheets in an attempt to prove that he made the right call, drafting him in the 1st Round of 2019’s NFL Draft. Expect close to 300 touches for the rookie -- a touch-volume that should buoy him into satisfying his 3rd Round ADP. It should be noted though, these touches will be ugly. Offensive line “coach” Tom Cable is among the worst the league has ever seen as Oakland starts the year off without 2 of its 5 O Line starters. Consider him an RB2.

Tight end Darren Waller has had a solid preseason and QB Derek Carr loves checking down to his tight end. He’s a good of a tight end flyer as any, late in drafts.

Monitor

Antonio Brown just barely escaped the Avoid list. His 2nd Round ADP is 4-5 rounds too high, given the litany of red flags surrounding him. The foot, the helmet, the erratic behavior, the lack of practice/rapport-building time with Derek Carr set the table for Brown to be nothing more than a Boom/Bust back-end WR2/Flex option.

Jalen Richard could carry some Flex value in PPR.

Avoid

Tyrell Williams and J.J. Nelson.