Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers (ankle) has been downgraded to doubtful for Sunday's game vs. the Steelers. With WR Davante Adams (hamstring) already ruled out, Vegas will be down its top two WRs. The team elevated WRs Alex Bachman and Kristian Wilkerson from the practice squad. They'll join Tre Tucker, D.J. Turner, and Tyreik McAllister in the WR corps. Tucker is the best bet for targets and worth a look as a WR4 or Flex in fantasy lineups. TE Brock Bowers should also be in for lots of volume tomorrow. But this passing game figures to struggle mightily against a quality Steelers defense.
Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers (ankle) is questionable for this weekend’s game vs. the Steelers. He only got in a limited practice on Friday, so he seems legitimately iffy for this one. We’ll look for an update on Meyers on Sunday morning but won’t get Vegas’ inactives until a little after 2:30 pm ET.
Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers (ankle) missed his second straight practice on Thursday. We don't have any details on his injury, but it's worth noting that Meyers was allowed to speak to the media on Wednesday, something most teams don't allow legitimately injured players to do. We'll see if Meyers practices on Friday and then how he's listed on the final injury report for this weekend's game vs. the Steelers.
Raiders HC Antonio Pierce named QB Aidan O'Connell the starter for this weekend's game vs. the Steelers. O'Connell has already seen action in place of QB Gardner Minshew twice this season, completing 19 of 32 passes (59%) for 176 yards (5.5 YPA), one TD, and one INT. He made 10 starts as a rookie last year, finishing with a 62% completion rate and 6.5 yards per attempt. O'Connell did have his three best games of the season over the final four weeks, ranking 14th among 39 qualifying QBs in Pro Football Focus passing grade during that stretch.
Raiders WR Davante Adams (hamstring) is not expected to play vs. the Steelers this weekend, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. Vegas has no reason to risk a setback with Adams' hamstring as they look to move him ahead of the November 5 trade deadline. His absence will again leave WR Jakobi Meyers, TE Brock Bowers, and WR Tre Tucker as the Raiders' top three targets. Meyers leads the team with 19 targets on a big 31.1% share over the past two weeks. Bowers has 15 targets on a 24.6% share.
Raiders WR Davante Adams (hamstring) remained sidelined in practice all week and is out for Sunday’s game vs. the Broncos. Adams is reportedly dealing with a legitimate injury and could miss another game. We’ll see if he’s still a Raider when he’s able to get back on the field. His absence will again leave WRs Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker and TE Brock Bowers as Vegas’ top targets.
Raiders WR Davante Adams is considered "week to week" with the hamstring injury he suffered in Thursday's practice, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Adams did not practice on Friday and was ruled out later that day, suggesting that he was not close to being able to play vs. the Browns this weekend. It sounds like there's a chance he misses additional games. The Raiders' bye doesn't come until Week 10. TE Brock Bowers and WRs Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker will find more target opportunity for however long Adams is out.
Raiders WR Davante Adams (hamstring) is out for this weekend's game vs. the Browns. He injured his hamstring in Thursday's practice, so it's possible that he misses more time beyond Week 4. We'll look for further updates on his status. Adams has accounted for 24% of Raiders targets this season, so he leaves behind a ton of opportunity. TE Brock Bowers, WR Jakobi Meyers, and WR Tre Tucker are candidates to pick up extra work.
Raiders WR Davante Adams was held in check despite a positive match-up against the Panthers. He ended up catching four of his nine targets for 40 yards.
Rookie Raiders TE Brock Bowers led the Raiders catching six of eight targets for 58 yards against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1. Bowers only played 68% of the Raiders' offensive snaps, but still beat out both WRs Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers in targets and catches.
Raiders HC Antonio Pierce says WR Jakobi Meyers has "really, really, really stepped up his game," according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "Since the offseason, he's been lights out."
The Raiders expect WR Tre Tucker to "take a big leap as their starting slot," per The Athletic's Tashan Reed. A third-round pick in 2023, Tucker managed just 19 catches, 331 yards, and 2 TDs as a rookie. At 5'9 and 185 pounds, Tucker brings exciting speed (4.40 forty time; 1.48 ten-yard split). This offseason, the Raiders added Brock Bowers to an offense that already includes Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers. Bowers is expected to see a good chunk of his snaps out of the slot.
The Raiders are signing QB Gardner Minshew to a 2-year, $25 million deal with $15 million guaranteed, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. That contract doesn't guarantee that Minshew will be the team's 2024 starter, but it at least makes him the favorite. With QB Jimmy Garoppolo set to be released, QB Aidan O'Connell currently stands as Minshew's competition. We'll see if the Raiders add anything else significant this offseason. They currently hold the 13th overall pick of April's draft. Minshew is good enough to keep an NFL offense on track but will not be an exciting fantasy option in Vegas. He averaged 229 passing yards and 1.1 TDs in 13 full games for the Colts last season. The Minshew addition does bring some stability to the fantasy outlooks of Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, and Michael Mayer.
After their deal with Kliff Kingsbury fell through, the Raiders hired Luke Getsy as their new OC under HC Antonio Pierce. Getsy spent the last two years as OC in Chicago, where the Bears ranked in the bottom half of the league in both total yards and points. Those were run-heavy offenses, in large part because they were quarterbacked by Justin Fields. Getsy was the Packers' QB coach and passing-game coordinator before his stint with the Bears, so we'd expect a more balanced attack in Vegas. Unless, of course, the Getsy hire is a precursor to the Raiders swinging a trade for Fields.
Kliff Kingsbury has pulled his name out of consideration for the Raiders' OC job, according to his agent. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that contract talks between the two sides broke down late in the process. We'll see who the Raiders eventually land on as OC under HC Antonio Pierce. Kingsbury, meanwhile, is a "leading candidate" for the Commanders' OC job, per Schefter.
The Raiders are set to hire Kliff Kingsbury as their new OC under HC Antonio Pierce, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports. Kingsbury had an underwhelming tenure as Cardinals HC from 2019 to 2022, going 28-37-1 over those four seasons. He landed two of those teams inside the top 8 in total yards, but none cracked the top 10 in points. Kingsbury at least deployed fast-paced attacks, with three of his four offenses finishing top 3 in pace. We'll see exactly how Kingsbury meshes with the defensive-minded Pierce. The Raiders offense has some big questions to answer this offseason, with RB Josh Jacobs set to hit free agency and QB Jimmy Garoppolo a strong release candidate.
The Raiders removed the interim label from Antonio Pierce, naming the 45-year-old their new HC. Pierce took over as interim HC of a 3-5 Raiders team this past season and proceeded to go 5-4 the rest of the way. Vegas' points per game rose from 15.8 pre-Pierce to 22.9 after Pierce took over. While Pierce talked a lot about his love of running the rock, the Raiders' neutral run rate actually sunk from 43.1% to 41.4% in Pierce's nine games. He did ride a workhorse RB in all of those games, though -- first Josh Jacobs and then Zamir White. Jacobs is due to hit free agency in March, while White is signed for two more seasons. We'll see what the Raiders do in the backfield, and how Pierce fills out the rest of his coaching staff.
The Raiders clearly led Indianapolis in time of possession (by 6.5 minutes) and ran 74 plays to the Colts' 53 in Sunday's loss. That led to particularly big numbers in the passing game. QB Aidan O'Connell attempted a season-high 47 passes -- just six higher than his second-biggest total, but 13 ahead of No. 3. His 30 completions and 299 yards also easily set season highs. The big volume -- and Las Vegas playing catchup late -- produced a whopping 21 targets for WR Davante Adams. He caught 13 for 126 yards and 2 TDs. WR Jakobi Meyers followed with a 6-56 line on 10 targets. Adams drew a target on 44.7% of O'Connell's attempts, claimed 43.3% of his completions, and tallied 42.1% of the receiving yards. Meyers' 10 targets, meanwhile, accounted for a just OK 21.3% target share. Expect all those numbers to fall -- probably by quite a bit -- in the regular-season finale against the Broncos.
The Raiders’ offense hung tight against the Chiefs in Week 12. The QB Aiden O’Connell-led unit paced Kansas City in total offensive yards (358 and 360, respectively) and did considerable damage through the air. WR Jakobi Meyers recorded a 6-79-1 receiving line with teammate Davante Adams not too far behind (5 catches, 73 yards). Since firing former HC Josh McDaniels ahead of Week 9, Adams has taken off with an average of 11 targets, 80.6 yards, and 16 PPR points per game in that span. Both guys have stellar chances to keep their success rolling as the Raiders’ remaining schedule ranks 11th-easiest for WRs per our adjusted fantasy points allowed. Fantasy managers will have to wait until after Las Vegas’ Week 13 bye to get Meyers and Adams into lineups. Still, their next two opponents (Vikings, Chargers) are top-10 fantasy matchups for wideouts.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vincent Bonsignore tweets that the Raiders are "leaning toward" starting QB Aidan O'Connell vs. the Giants this weekend. QB Jimmy Garoppolo was a disaster in Monday night's loss to the Lions, throwing for just 126 yards, 0 TDs, and one INT on 21 attempts. O'Connell wasn't great in his Week 4 start vs. the Chargers, averaging 6.1 yards per pass attempt with 0 TDs and one INT. But the 3-5 Raiders under interim HC Antonio Pierce are looking beyond 2023 at this point. We'll look for further updates on the Raiders' QB plans. We certainly wouldn't consider O'Connell an upgrade for Raiders pass catchers.
Update: NFL Network reports the Raiders are expected to start O'Connell "this week and going forward." We'll see how this trial goes.
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