The Raiders have been rotating Alexander Mattison ($5,100) and Zamir White ($4,200) in their backfield for most of the season with Mattison as the more fantasy-friendly option. On Sunday against the Dolphins, they lost both backs due to injury. Mattison had five carries and three catches before leaving with an ankle issue, and White had five carries for nine yards before leaving with a quad injury. With neither back practicing Wednesday, it looks like a real possibility that both will miss Week 12’s home game vs. the Broncos. That would leave Ameer Abdullah ($4,300) and Dylan Laube ($4,000) as the top two running backs for the Raiders to call on, but would they be good fantasy options? Let’s dive in.
Ameer Abdullah so far this season
Abdullah ended up logging a 34 percent snap share in last week’s game vs. the Dolphins since he took over after White and Mattison left. He only had one carry but did have three catches on three targets for 16 yards and a touchdown.
He finished with 10.7 fantasy points, which was actually his second game of the season with a touchdown and double-digit fantasy points. He had a season-high 14.1 fantasy points in Week 5 in the Raiders’ first game against the Broncos.
If Mattison is out, the veteran Abdullah would be an obvious replacement since he has gotten most of his work as a receiver out of the backfield. He does have 17 carries for 82 yards on the season but isn’t typically a “between the tackles” grinder.
The 31-year-old veteran is in his 10th season in the NFL but has never really handled a full workload in the backfield. If he does this week, he’ll obviously have a good ceiling for a DFS play so lowly priced or a waiver wire plug-and-play option. However, Abdullah may lose some work to rookie Laube, especially on early downs.
Who is Dylan Laube and why does it matter?
The Raiders took Laube in the sixth round out of New Hampshire, but the rookie has had just one carry on one offensive snap all season. He fumbled that one carry and has been a healthy inactive since. This could be just the flip in script he needs, though, since he could be pressed into early-down work this week.
In each of his last two seasons at UNH, Laube was the FCS leader in all-purpose yards-per-game. He put up huge totals, racking up 1,954 rushing yards, 1,163 receiving yards on 118 receptions and scoring 37 total touchdowns over those two seasons.
Remember last year when White was virtually unknown but went on a tear for coach Antonio Pierce? Laube has more of chance to do that than Abdullah, although the fact that he hasn’t earned his way into a chance doesn’t indicate that kind of breakout is likely.
The Verdict: Sit Abdullah and Laube unless you’re desperate
If White and Mattison are out, both backs would have touchdown-dependent upside. Laube’s ceiling is higher, but he’s also very high-risk since we haven’t seen him put up any kind of production at all yet in the NFL. Both are high-risk plays in DFS contests like the NFL $2.5M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st], but they do have potential since they’ll be one of the few running backs under $5,000 that get regular work.
The Raiders are only 5.5-point home underdogs against the Broncos despite their offensive issues. Abdullah is +310 to find the end zone and Laube is not on the board.
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