START: JALEN RICHARD, RB, OAKLAND RAIDERS
MATCHUP: vs. Los Angeles Chargers
PRICE – $4,800 (DraftKings) l $5,100 (FantasyFactor) l $5,400 (FanDuel)
Last week’s outing leaves fantasy owners with little desire to start any Raiders player with confidence for the rest of the season, but fear not, there is still hope. While Oakland has been filled with up and down play throughout their roster week in and week out, the one constant has been the play of scat-back/receiving back, Jalen Richard. Richard leads the team with 43 receptions and has averaged over 6 receptions in 7 of his 8 games on the season.
Doug Martin has run surprisingly well since taking over for the injured Marshawn Lynch, averaging 5.0 yards per carrying since gaining the starting gig in Oakland. The issue is, Martin is pegged in as a ball carrier only. Martin becomes effectively nonexistent once Oakland falls behind on the scoreboard, which is a usual occurrence throughout this season.
We should expect much of the same come Sunday, as Oakland’s struggling defense gets an LA Chargers team that is ranked 8th in total offense and averages nearly 28 points a game. Speaking of the Chargers, Oakland dropped a week 5 showdown with Los Angeles, to the tune of 26-10. Richard brought in all six of his targets that day, totaling 57 yards. Richard has reeled in nearly 88% of the passes thrown his way this season, giving Derek Carr, the Raiders, and fantasy owners, the only trustworthy player currently residing in Oakland.
SIT: SETH ROBERTS, WR, OAKLAND RAIDERS
MATCHUP: vs. Los Angeles Chargers
PRICE – $3,200 (DraftKings) l $4,300 (FantasyFactor) l $5,100 (FanDuel)
You could fill out a full roster with the Oakland players that you should sit in fantasy this week. We will focus in on slot man Seth Roberts, for the sake of this article. Roberts looked like the lead beneficiary of the Amari Cooper trade early on, averaging 21 yards per reception and scoring only his second touchdown on the season in Oakland’s first bout without Cooper on the field. Roberts bounced back to reality last week, bringing in a lone reception on his two targets, for a messy eight yards, and a grand total of 1.80 fantasy points.
This week Roberts gets one of the toughest match-ups in all of football. LA’s slot corner Desmond King is coming off a 42-yard pick-six on Russell Wilson a week ago and currently ranks as pro football focuses number one overall ranked cornerback in football through nine weeks. Roberts averages 2.5 receptions a game and has yet to top 43-yards in a single contest this season. Los Angeles has surrendered an average of fewer than 40 yards per game to oppositions’ slot receivers on the season. No fantasy owner should feel comfortable inserting Roberts into a starting lineup with confidence this week, or the rest of the season at that.
