When planning your draft strategy, it is a reasonable thing to want to add some Raiders to your squad. In my previous post I mentioned three players who would be good targets early on on the draft. In a later post I will outline some sleepers who might be smart picks late in a draft. But today, I will discuss three players who, although they might help the Raiders this year, probably won't help you.
First, Brandon Myers. He was the primary backup to Kevin Boss at tight end last year, and made some good plays due to his excellent hands. However, he is very slow and not terribly athletic, and might even lose the starting tight end job altogether to David Ausberry. The Raiders have so many weapons on offense that Myers will more often than not be completely overlooked. His only hope is that the defense doesn't bother to cover him and he can get open easily. Even if he does, he won't be able to break away from defenders. There are at least 40 other tight ends who are a better option than Myers, who wouldn't even be worth a third-string TE slot on any fantasy team should any fantasy owner ever draft three tight ends.
Next is Louis Murphy. He has the pure talent and skills to be a big-time receiver as he showed in college, but injury woes and the emergence of three clearly superior receivers above him on the depth chart leave him in a tough position. He is quality depth for the team and nothing more. I expect Juron Criner to be above him on the depth chart before the season is over. It isn't uncommon for teams to have three receivers who are reliable fantasy options- Eli Manning's Giants of 2011 with Nicks/Cruz/Manningham, Peyton's old Colts with Harrison/Wayne/Stokely, Aaron Rodgers' Packers with Jennings/Driver/Nelson, etc. But those teams were all teams that favored the pass primarily, and the Raiders of late have been a running juggernaut. There won't be enough balls to go around for Murphy to have any kind of impact, unless there is an injury. Even if there is, he still won't have enough opportunity to be a fantasy force.
Finally there's Taiwan Jones. This has nothing to do with Jones' talent level; given the right situation he could be a poor man's Chris Johnson. There is one reason that Jones won't be valuable to you this year and his name is Mike Goodson. Not only is Goodson an excellent kick returner, he is also the team's primary backup to McFadden. The tandem of McFadden and Michael Bush last season left little to no carries for Jones, and when he did get carries he suffered injury. Should McFadden yet again have some calamity befall him, Jones will have some value but until then he is someone that shouldn't even he on your radar come draft day.
For more on the Oakland Raiders, join the discussion over at Silver And Black Pride. You can also check out everything we have to offer at SB Nation's NFL hub.