The 2022 fantasy football season is truly underway as drafts fire off across the nation, meaning now is the time to dive into Zamir White’s ADP to determine whether or not fantasy managers are receiving a value on draft day. Can White make an early impact and become a featured piece of the Las Vegas Raiders offense, or should fantasy managers avoid him in fantasy football drafts even at his reduced ADP?
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Zamir White ADP | Is he worth his current price in fantasy drafts?
The case of whether or not you should draft White is a combination of managing expectations while being cognizant of the potential upside. He’s going to cost you little to nothing on draft day, but he also might bring you a little to nothing to your fantasy football team.
Currently, the RB59 on FantasyPros with an ADP of 213, White is a borderline draft pick majority of 2022 redraft leagues and is the RB55 in PFN’s 2022 fantasy football RB redraft rankings.
I get it. He’s a rookie with a lengthy injury history and is stepping into an offense with a proven veteran and a more-than-competent backup already on the roster.
However, things are rarely that simple. I can absolutely make a case for White and why he has value at his ADP, but quite a bit needs to go correct for that to happen.
For starters, we need to consider why the Raiders drafted White. For one, they did it because of his immense talent. But they also did it with the future in mind.
Although it seems like it was over a decade ago, it’s been just a few months since the Raiders declined the fifth-year option for Josh Jacobs, allowing his contract to expire at the end of the season.
White is the future of this position for the Raiders. However, that doesn’t mean he is the future of the backfield for 2022. Jacobs should lead this team, but if a midseason trade were to happen, we could see White be a league-winner down the stretch.
With that said, there are likely more impactful Week 1 players you could draft with your final pick than using it on White and proceeding to wait multiple weeks, if not the entire season, for it to come to fruition.
Zamir White’s projected fantasy value in 2022
From a talent point of view, I’ll put White up with anyone coming out of this class. No, White’s numbers don’t wow you. In 2021 and 2022, he rushed 304 times for 1,635 yards. He scored 11 touchdowns in each season and ended his career at Georgia with 25 in total.
However, we have to remember how Georgia uses their running backs. They don’t believe in a singular running back carrying the load. Todd Gurley didn’t see that, nor did Nick Chubb or Sony Michel. Neither did D’Andre Swift. And White was no different.
The only red flag on White coming into the NFL was that he had torn the ACL in both his knees. As a senior in high school in 2017, he tore the one in his left knee. White got himself ready for the 2018 season, but unfortunately, tore his right ACL just weeks before the first game.
White has the raw talent to push Jacobs for opportunities as a rookie. The question is whether or not he’ll get them. I always say don’t overreact to small sample sizes. I’m doing the opposite. The fact Josh McDaniels started Jacobs in a meaningless preseason game speaks volumes as to what he and the organization feel for Jacobs in his future. It still baffles my mind.
This is not even meant to be a slight against Jacobs. He’s actually been great for fantasy, finishing as the RB16, RB15, and RB14 in points per game, respectively, over the last three years. He’s a workhorse back who can handle nearly 300 touches if they want to do that.
However, Jacobs has publicly admitted he doesn’t want that to happen. He even directly mentioned Drake as someone he was excited to see get the ball more. But that certainly won’t happen after the team released him as they made their final cuts. There is also the concern that McDaniels brings the same RB committee philosophy that we’ve seen plague fantasy managers with the New England Patriots backfield.
For White to have a weekly value that you can rely on, either an injury needs to take place or Jacobs needs to be traded. The latter of which seems rather unlikely. If either of those happens, White would be an instant selection off the waiver wire. He is a one-cut runner with plenty of power and burst. He can bring the power up the middle or even hit the edge. I’m bullish on the future of White, even if we don’t see his full capabilities in 2022.
