Oakland Raiders: Potential running back draft targets

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Jan 1, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Ezekiel Elliott celebrates with the trophy following the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the 2016 Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Buckeyes defeated the Fighting Irish 44-28. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

Breaking down the Oakland Raiders best running back options in the 2016 NFL Draft.

In the 2016 NFL draft, the Oakland Raiders will likely be in the market for a young, productive running back to fill in behind their 2015 lead rusher Latavius Murray. Though the former UCF back did work his way to over 1,000 rushing yards and was even named to his first career Pro Bowl, the Silver and Black still lack ideal depth at the running back position.

Without a talented No. 2 back on the roster, the Raiders struggled to make plays on the ground when Murray wasn’t on the field. In turn, Derek Carr finished the season as the team’s second leading rusher, while the offense as a whole ranked 28^th in rushing yards per game, via NFL.com.

“We didn’t run effectively enough,” Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio said in February in an interview with SiriusXM NFL radio, via Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. “That’s one of the things we’re addressing right now. Some of it is who we were running it with. Some of it is how we’re blocking for that runner and some of it is coaching and play design. Also an issue was the number of times we did it. We didn’t run as much because we weren’t as effective as we needed to be. It’s one of those things that snowballed in a bad way.”

With a lot of the talented free agent running backs under contract elsewhere, look for Oakland to benefit from the depth at the running back position in the 2016 draft class by targeting one or two of these guys come April.

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