Fantasy Football: Raiders Not Getting Much Love In Early Mock Drafts

Dec 7, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) high fives tight end Mychal Rivera (81) ahead of Oakland Raiders interim head coach Tony Sparano after the extra point after River

If you want Raiders on your fantasy squad this fall, it doesn’t look like there is much stopping you having as many as you want.

As the phenomenon that is fantasy football continues to grow every year, more and more of us invest our time in a league — subsequently ending up rooting for players we otherwise couldn’t care less about.

Because of this and plain old human nature, we (I do, anyway) try to get a couple players from our favorite team on our fantasy squads. You could say it helps bridge the gap between fantasy and reality.

For Raider fans, that might not be much of a problem this fall. If you want a Raider skill player on your fantasy team, you’ve got a pretty good chance of landing at least one.

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I was perusing some of the lists, charts and graphs recently at FantasyFootballCalculator.com in regard to who is being picked where in current mocks drafts. Here is what I found as far as Raiders are concerned:

Derek Carr — In traditional 12-team leagues, Carr was, on average, the 25th quarterback drafted. That seems low to me, as it puts him just outside of the QB2 range. In my opinion, that makes him a steal and means if you want him on your squad, you can easily get him. He’s currently being drafted ahead of Robert Griffin III, Andy Dalton and Blake Bortles.

Amari Cooper — The man who should be Carr’s primary target this year is currently the 32nd receiver off the board in most mocks. This puts him outside of WR2 range, however, makes him one of the more interesting options at the Flex position. With the amount of targets he’s likely to get, I’d make sure I had Cooper slotted somewhere in my starting lineup — especially in PPR leagues — before the rest of your league starts drafting their bench.

Latavius Murray — I like what I saw from Murray when he played and was healthy last season. He’s currently going off the board at No. 21 amongst running backs, meaning he’s an RB2 in most leagues. I’d be cautious in taking him that early, considering that we’re not sure how serious Trent Richardson and Roy Helu will be in threatening Murray’s starting role.

Mychal Rivera and Clive Walford — The Raider tight ends are a promising group, however, not many outside Raider Nation have confidence in them. Both are going undrafted in most mocks at this point, meaning there is a great chance they’ll be there at the end of the draft for you to scoop up. I feel like both will have value throughout the season, depending on bye weeks and the matchups of your starters.

Raiders D/ST — I like the potential of this unit in fantasy this season. Again, like with Oakland’s tight ends, the Raider defense and special teams are flying under the radar undrafted. There is very little risk in grabbing them as your backup with a chance for them to breakout.

Sebastian Janikowski — Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Janikowski was once one of the most coveted kickers in fantasy. Nowadays, he’s largely ignored. If you want him, he’s yours.

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