Las Vegas

Raiders

Tight end Carter Runyon was activated from injured reserve in a corresponding move. White has eight catches for 112 yards and three scores this year. He also contributes on special teams. The Raiders could ultimately sign him to their practice squad and promote him to the game-day roster this week.

Mike Washington, Jr. in Week 8 against the Jets took over as the team’s lead rusher, logging 25 carries to just two carries for Ashton Jeanty. While Kubiak said after the game that Jeanty would remain a part of the offense, it’s clear the Raiders are willing to experiment with backfield touches. “You see where your team is at and who’s playing the best ball at the time. It’s a 17-game regular season where things change every week. They’ve been changing at guard, they change up front defensively, they change at corner,” Kubiak said. “That’s the NFL. We have a young roster and we’re going to give guys opportunities and see what fits us best. But your 11, whether you’re playing really well or not playing well at all, it’s always going to change a little bit.” The Raiders through Week 8 rank dead last in EPA per rush and second to last in rushing success rate. Jeanty should remain viable as long as he’s the team’s primary pass catcher out of the backfield. Jeanty ranks fifth among all RBs in expected fantasy points per game.

Nailor’s touchdown was his first as a Raider. It went down for all of two yards. In addition to the score, Nailor posted new season highs in yards and receptions, which obviously tells you all you need to know about his WR4 value: He doesn’t have any heading into Week 9 against the 49ers.

This was Mayer’s fourth five-catch outing of the season. Only Brock Bowers caught more passes this afternoon. It could have been a bigger day in fantasy, but Mayer’s unconverted look was an inaccurate goal-line pass he short-armed. Mayer has a reasonable enough PPR TE2 floor, but his spiked week potential remains limited enough that he is not a very exciting streamer.

Coming off 10/200/3 over the past two weeks, Tucker somehow commanded only one target in a game where the Raiders scored 38 points. It was the first time since the opener he caught fewer than four passes. Tucker has definitely benefitted from some garbage time production, but he is not typically going to be a zero waiting to happen. He can still be trotted out there as a low-end WR3 for a Week 9 matchup where the Raiders are going to have to pass to compete with the 49ers.

At least for one week, the Raiders formalized Washington’s early-down takeover, as the rookie out-carried a doghoused Ashton Jeanty 25-2. However, Washington got routinely stood up on his ample goal-line opportunities, and only out-gained Jeanty 83-73 thanks to Jeanty’s involvement in the passing game. A 45-yard reception where Jeanty literally fell down to catch an inaccurate Kirk Cousins pass only to get up and rumble nearly half the length of the field was by far the biggest play by a Raiders running back in this one. Although Washington now has to be considered the favorite for early-down work, he was uninspiring enough this afternoon that it’s not going to be an open-and-shut case against the 49ers. We would still rather start Jeanty in fantasy because of his pass catching.

The multi-score start was Bowers’ first of the season but third of his career. He won a first quarter end zone hand fight for a 12-yarder before later contributing a two-yarder where he broke some tackles. He is now up to five touchdowns in six games and has yet to finish below 70 yards. That is league-winning type stuff out of the tight end position. The 49ers are on deck as a tough matchup up the seam for Week 9.

With the Fernando Mendoza chatter increasing as the Raiders were mired in a four-game losing streak, Cousins responded with his fourth three-touchdown effort through the air, albeit his first since Week 3. Cousins has now provided multiple scores in 7-of-8 starts, and is up to 20 overall on the season. This, with Tre Tucker as his No. 1 receiver. Of course, Tucker is merely Cousins’ No. 1 wideout. Brock Bowers is his No. 1 pass catcher, and the elite tight end stacked up 7/92/2 in the new Meadowlands. Cousins seemed to look Bowers’ way on all the most critical downs, and he was richly rewarded. Fantasy managers also continue to be rewarded with Cousins in streamer spots, though that will be put to the test in Week 9 against the 49ers on the road. With only two teams on bye, we would be looking elsewhere in our quarterback spots.

Jeanty was benched as the Raiders’ early-down back, getting out-carried 25-2 by Mike Washington Jr. For his part, Washington was not effective, churning up just 3.3 yards per carry and getting stoned on a bevy of goal-line handles. Speaking afterward, coach Klint Kubiak said the move was his call but that "(Jeanty) is still going to be a big part of our team.” Jeanty made waves during the week when he said the Jets could not tackle. Rather than let the struggling second-year back prove his theory on the field, the Raiders made the takedown themselves for the Jets. While it’s clear Jeanty is now in a true timeshare, we do also take Kubiak at his word that Jeanty will remain a “big part” of the team, almost certainly with double-digit carries more weeks than not. The question is if he can keep catching enough passes to hold RB2 status. Washington is now the preferred short-yardage back, but his failures in Sunday’s highest-leverage spots could keep the door ajar for Jeanty.

Coming off injured reserve, Bech is active for the first time since Week 3. He was a small part of the offense before going down, but with this new coaching staff in evaluation mode, perhaps he will see more work down the stretch. He is nevertheless currently off the radar in 12-team leagues. Inactive for the Silver and Black are WR Dont’e Thornton Jr., WR Malik Benson, S Tristin McCollum, S Dalton Johnson, OG Bryce Cabeldue, DT JJ Pegues and QB Aidan O’Connell.