Raiders RB Josh Jacobs entered this season as a highly regarded fantasy football pick, and rightfully so. In 2019, the rookie entered bell-cow status as he rushed 242 times for 1,150 yards and seven scores. However, his insufficient receiving role (20 receptions for 166 yards) limited his fantasy ceiling, which has fantasy owners debating a late-first or early-second round pick on the former Crimson Tide stud.
In today’s fantasy world where three-down backs and pass-catchers are kings, it looks as though Jacobs will not be the three-down workhorse that GM Mike Mayock promised us in the offseason after the team added a handful of pass-catchers to surround Jacobs.
Mayock said for Jacobs to become a three-down back, he needed to catch the football and protect the quarterback. But for some reason, the Raiders are doing everything they can to put a lid on the Jacobs’ three-down hype train.
Mayock re-signed backup RB Jalen Richard to a two-year deal, who happens to be two years removed from an 81 target, 68 catch season.
The team also signed veteran pass-catcher extraordinaire Theo Riddick, who hasn’t seen a snap on an NFL field since 2018 but also grabbed 61 balls that year.
Then, Mayock inked third-down RB Devontae Booker and used a high draft pick on Lynn Bowden Jr, who was a dynamic college WR and is currently listed as an RB on the depth chart.
That’s not one, not two, not three, but four capable pass-catchers added to the running back room in Vegas.
So while Mayock initially gave us some hope and Raiders The Athletic’s Vic Tafur also chimed in, when he said he expects Jacobs to “easily double” his 20 reception total from 2019, it seems as though Jacobs’ ceiling will, unfortunately, be capped in 2020.
Just let fantasy wizard and friend of the FFBDPod, Evan Silva, summarize the downfalls for us here:
As is often the case for 2-down RBs, Josh Jacobs was highly game-script sensitive as a rookie.
TDs in wins: 7
TDs in losses: 0Total YPG in wins: 118.2
Total YPG in losses: 86.7— Evan Silva (@evansilva) August 23, 2020
In terms of his Fantasy Stock outlook, Jacobs checks the Talent and Risk boxes. But on the other hand, the Usage and Opportunity are questionable at best due to his lack of three down usage. Then mix in the problematic schedule, and we have Vegas potentially playing from behind in most games, thus, limiting the running back’s snaps.
So while running backs such as Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, and Joe Mixon can put up points on bad teams, they are all fantasy workhorses. Right now, I would still take Jacobs in the early second, but these additions will likely cause fantasy owners to pause before selecting the Raiders running back. If he can add 15-plus receptions to his 2019 total, he should be worth the current investment at his current ADP.
The Wolf currently has Jacobs ranked No. 17 overall and the RB14 this year on his latest 2020 Fantasy Football Big Board.
