For nine games this season, the Raiders ignored
| Name | Height | Weight | 40-time | Vert-jump | Agility Score | Athleticism Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murray | 6'2" | 223 lbs | 4.43 (92nd) | 36" (68th) | 11.17 (65th) | 100.3 (55th) |
For nine games this season, the Raiders ignored
| Name | Height | Weight | 40-time | Vert-jump | Agility Score | Athleticism Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murray | 6'2" | 223 lbs | 4.43 (92nd) | 36" (68th) | 11.17 (65th) | 100.3 (55th) |
Latavius Murray actually compares fairly well to Adrian Peterson, DeMarco Murray, and Ryan Mathews given his relative size, speed, and agility score. His workout scores are pretty nice - but does he have opportunity? How effective has Murray been?
Oakland’s backfield has been a dumpster-fire. Darren McFadden has been relatively ineffective and Maurice Jones-Drew has been awful since 2012. Even though Murray’s sample size is relatively small, he has been “The Black Hole’s†best back.
| Name | Att. | Yards | YPC | TDs | Rush NEP | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murray | 10 | 54 | 5.4 | 0 | -0.76 | 40.00% |
| McFadden | 112 | 389 | 3.5 | 2 | -18.33 | 33.93% |
| Jones-Drew | 33 | 77 | 2.3 | 0 | -10.71 | 21.21% |
Latavius Murray has been better in the pass game, too.
| Name | Targets | Rec. | Yards | TDs | Rec. NEP | Target NEP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murray | 7 | 6 | 35 | 0 | 3.83 | 2.52 |
| McFadden | 37 | 29 | 225 | 0 | 3.07 | -13.74 |
| Jones-Drew | 9 | 8 | 48 | 0 | 1.83 | 0.35 |
For whatever reason, the Raiders have completely neglected Murray all season. He hurt his ankle in 2013 and missed much of the season - but there is zero reason they should not see what they have in the second-year player from UCF. He’s been pretty effective with his fairly small workload, but he definitely deserves his shot at a more than reasonable amount of touches.
There is a good bet Latavius Murray is still available in your fantasy league along with Sunday Night Football-breakout-star, Jonas Gray. If I had to choose between the two for one roster spot, I think I would chose Jonas Gray - but it’s close. Latavius Murray obviously lacks the upside of Gray due to Oakland’s inept offense, yet there aren’t many potential starting running backs left on league waiver wires.
What is good for us, is given opportunity (12 to 15 touches per game) most running backs in the NFL can be sufficient weekly fantasy options. Therefore, if Murray starts for Oakland and continues to receive a significant snap share, there could be some upside in the Raiders’ waters.
It’s probably wise to go ahead and conditionally add Murray this week, even if you aren’t running back-needy. At this point in the re-draft season, the waiver wire is worn pretty thin of potential starting running backs.