The Raiders moved on from Davante Adams this week, reuniting the malcontent veteran receiver with Aaron Rodgers on the Jets. While the Jets are in primetime vs. the Steelers, the Raiders play Sunday afternoon vs. the Rams in Los Angeles. On Friday they listed Jakobi Meyers ($5,400; ankle) as doubtful, meaning the team will most likely be without its top two wide receivers this week. While Aidan O’Connell ($4,800) didn’t have a ton of success last week, there is the potential for some fantasy value to be dug out of this matchup.
The Rams have allowed the 14th-most fantasy points to wide receivers this season. In five games, they allowed seven wide receiver touchdowns, highlighted by a three-touchdown, 175-yard monster game for Jauan Jennings back in Week 3. The potential for a big game is there, but what receiver is the next man up for the Raiders?
The real answer is probably Brock Bowers ($5,800), the rookie tight end who is having an outstanding season. The Rams have allowed the second-most fantasy points to tight ends this season and Bowers has had eight and nine catches the last two weeks for 97 and 71 yards, respectively. With Meyers out, Bowers is one of the top options in all of the NFL this week. I ranked him as my No. 3 tight end coming into the week, but I’d bump him up to No. 2 and could definitely see the case for him being No. 1 with Meyers out.
If we limit the Meyers’ replacement to receivers, things get a little iffy. For the last few weeks, I really liked Tre Tucker ($4,200), but he put up a bagel last week in O’Connell’s first start of the year and only got two targets. He has the highest ceiling of any WR option on the Raiders and is a good flier play at the position since he has such big play ability and a high ceiling. He has a very low floor, though, so he’s a boom-or-bust best left for GPP tournaments or desperation plays in season-long leagues.
The options behind Tucker are even less certain. Last week, Kristian Wilkerson ($3,300) scored a touchdown and had 9.8 fantasy points after being promoted from the practice squad and could get another chance this week, but that’s uncertain since he’s still on the practice squad.
D.J. Turner ($3,400) had four targets each of the last two weeks and scored a rushing touchdown back in Week 4, so he’s probably the next man up after Tucker. He still doesn’t bring much certainty, though.
While there’s a chance that O’Connell continues to rely mostly on Bowers and running backs, he did throw the ball 40 times in last week’s loss to the Steelers, so there is enough volume to make at least one of the receivers stand out. Tucker is still the option with the highest ceiling, so give him a look, but also keep an eye on if Wilkerson gets another pre-game promotion.
I’d avoid all the receivers in season-long leagues unless you’re very desperate or in a very deep league. They do make interesting GPP fliers in DFS contests like the NFL $2.5M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st].
The Raiders are seven-point underdogs on the road in their return to Los Angeles. Bowers is +190 to score a touchdown and Tre Tucker is all the way up to +370 to find the end zone. After back-to-back big weeks, Bowers’ over/under for receptions is 5.5 with the over currently at -135.
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