Michael

Mayer

Mayer has been sidelined since injuring his ankle in Week 12 against the Browns. Raiders head coach Pete Carroll said he expects rookie WR Jack Bech to be more involved with Thornton, a fellow rookie, sidelined this week. Thornton has caught just 8-of-25 targets for 123 yards this season, though, so his absence in the passing game is hardly significant. Bech should not be started against the Broncos’ elite defense. Raiders EDGE Maxx Crosby (knee) is active, as expected.

Carroll is “hopeful” that Mayer will play against the Eagles in Week 15. Fantasy managers have not been given a compelling reason to roster Mayer for the better part of the last month, and this latest rule out won’t help matters.

Mayer is off the TE2 radar while he trends to miss a second straight game and doesn’t need to be held in any shallow leagues at this time.

Mayer has not been practicing since suffering an ankle injury in Week 12. He missed Week 13 and is not back practicing yet, indicating he is trending to miss Week 14 against the Broncos. Mayer can stay off fantasy radars at this point in the season.

Mayer was unable to practice all week, rehabbing an ankle injury. He has had bouts of fantasy relevance this year when Brock Bowers has been sidelined, but the Raiders haven’t built a consistent enough passing game for anyone but Bowers to be an easy start. O’Connell will be available to the team as the emergency third quarterback. Holmes’ illness-induced absence against a talented Chargers passing attack is unfortunate. Raiders DT Adam Butler (illness) is active, though.

Mayer only has 30 targets to his name this year. His absence is hardly consequential, though it theoretically frees up one or two for TE Brock Bowers and WR Tre Tucker (knee) to fight for. Mayer does not need to be rostered in 12-team re-draft leagues.

Mayer left Week 12 against the Browns with an ankle injury and did not return. He starts out this week not practicing, putting his status for Week 13 against the Chargers in jeopardy. The Raiders’ passing offense is not fruitful for fantasy purposes, so Mayer’s potential absence only boosts Brock Bowers’ fantasy opportunity.

Mayer went down with the ankle injury in the first half. He was initially listed as questionable to return but the Raiders ruled him out shortly after he went into the locker room. Ian Thomas has taken his spot as the Raiders’ No. 2 tight end.

It’s worth noting that Mayer had more targets and receptions than Brock Bowers, but that’s more of an insult to Bowers’ production (one catch for 31 yards) than compliment to Mayer’s. The 24-year-old is likely to be involved in the passing game if only because of the dearth of options for Las Vegas, but he’s still a low-end TE2 at best.

Mayer saw seven targets last week against the Jaguars, second on the team behind Brock Bowers (13). Mayer logged a pass route on 70 percent of the Raiders’ drop backs as the team used two tight end sets at one of the highest rates of Week 9. Meyers’ absence from the Vegas offense should make Mayer somewhat interesting in deeper fantasy leagues, especially if the Raiders are continually forced into pass-heavy game scripts.