Week 7 will undoubtedly go down as the most difficult week of the season for fantasy football managers. In Week 6, Kenyan Drake posted better fantasy numbers than Josh Jacobs. So, how should managers approach the Raiders’ backfield as we try and navigate through the morass of Week 7 created by injuries and bye weeks?
Josh Jacobs’ fantasy stock is on the rise
I will be the first to admit that heading into the 2021 season, I preferred Drake to Jacobs in terms of cost. While Jacobs is nothing resembling the RB1 fantasy managers expected him to be in 2020, he’s proven well worth the reduced price of a fourth or fifth-round pick in 2021 fantasy drafts.
Jacobs has hit double-digit PPR fantasy points in all four of his games played this season. Since returning from a toe injury that cost him Weeks 2 and 3, Jacobs has finished as the weekly RB30, RB21, and RB19. What’s most encouraging is that he’s playing over 65% of the offensive snaps.
Kenyan Drake’s fantasy value remains unchanged
After seeing nearly 50% of the snaps in Week 1, combined with Jacobs’ injury, it sure looked like Drake was poised to ascend in fantasy value. Instead, Drake actually saw his value decrease as he was cast aside in favor of Peyton Barber.
The good news is new head coach Rich Bisaccia does not seem to have the same affinity for Barber that Gruden had. Bisaccia made Barber a healthy inactive in Week 6. Drake followed that up with his best fantasy outing of the season, finishing as the overall RB9 on the week with 21.3 fantasy points.
So, why does Drake’s fantasy value remain unchanged? Last week’s “explosion” was a mirage. Drake is the fool’s gold. He played just 19.2% of the offensive snaps and touched the ball 6 times. The only difference between Week 6 and the previous three games was Drake found the end zone twice. You don’t need me to tell you that scoring 2 touchdowns on 6 touches is not sustainable.
Should fantasy managers start either Jacobs or Drake this week?
We’ll start with Drake because it’s quick and easy — do not start him. You don’t even really need to have him rostered. Considering all of the byes and injuries affecting fantasy teams this week, if you need to drop someone to fill a spot, feel free to let Drake go.
As for Jacobs, it’s difficult to envision fantasy managers having a better option. The Eagles allow the 12th-most fantasy points to running backs. Furthermore, 60% of the fantasy points they allow come from the ground game. That’s good news for Jacobs, as the Raiders do not heavily involve him in the passing game, despite what his back-to-back 5-target games in Weeks 4 and 5 might make you think.
Jacobs will once again lead the Raiders’ backfield in touches. Therefore, he remains a solid, if unspectacular, low-end RB2. However, on a week like this, I might go so far as to call Jacobs a must-start.
