Oakland Raiders 3-13
Welcome to AFC West Week and the Oakland Raiders 2014 Fantasy Highs and Lows! Each week we will go division by division breaking down each team.
Bleacher Report just came out with their 2015 Power Rankings. The Oakland Raiders fell at 26th. That means that there are six teams that need more work then the Raiders this offseason, crazy. The Raiders have made some smart moves this offseason starting with the hiring of Jack Del Rio as their new Head Coach. Hopefully they will give Del Rio time to build the team before firing him for another poor record. But before we get too excited about the 2015 Raiders, lets review 2014.
Highs:
There is one consistent player on the Raiders. You must be asking yourself who the heck that could be. Sebastian Janikowski has been the Raider’s Kicker since 2000. On a fantasy note he was worthless because the Raiders were always behind so if they got down the field at all they had to go for the touchdowns, but Janikowski only missed 3 field goals. Compared to the rest of the Raiders, Janikowski was the “Star”.
Latavius Murray was a nice surprise. No one knew who he was until his performance against Kansas City’s great rush defense in Week 12. On four attempts he had 112 yards and two touchdowns. He zeroed out the next game, as did the Raiders in the blowout against St. Louis (52-0), but rebounded and saw the majority of the carries going forward. He could be a star next year under new OC Bill Musgrave.
Lows:
Maurice Jones-Drew is one of the saddest stories in 2014. He had 11 games with zero points. He didn’t play in four of those games but that doesn’t matter. This was a very rough year for him and maybe his last. He rushed for a total of 96 yards and zero touchdowns. With Latavius Murray coming in, Jones-Drew will be seeing the door from Oakland and Oakland will be saving $2.5 million. I hope he doesn’t draft himself this year again in his fantasy leagues.
It is a good thing the Raiders went for a Defensive mind as their Head Coach. They have yet to hire a Defensive Coordinator. The Raiders offensive is young but the defense is just bad. In fantasy the Raiders finished last with a total of 61 fantasy points. We all know that defenses win Championships. No one is asking the Raiders to win any Championships any time soon but more then three games would be nice.