SCOUT ANALYST TAKE

In Josh Jacobs' three seasons at Alabama, he never led the Crimson Tide in carries but still ended up being the first running back selected in the 2019 NFL Draft. Jacobs is an elusive back that should become the Oakland Raiders' bell cow now that Marshawn Lynch retired (again). SportsLine projects Jacobs to finish as the 18th best running back in standard fantasy football leagues with 176 carries for 772 yards and 43 receptions for 454 yards. Oakland's leading running back from last season, Doug Martin, finished with 172 attempts for 723 yards. Jacobs is a big improvement over Martin from a talent standpoint and should probably see closer to 200 carries if he can stay healthy. The most carries that Jacobs had in a season at Alabama was 120, so durability might be a concern with an increase in volume of carries, but I think the lack of carries is a benefit to Jacobs who has less wear and tear than most backs entering the league. I expect Jacobs to finish with around 200 carries for 850 yards on the ground and around 500 receiving yards. Jalen Richard might be a threat to take some third-down receptions away from Jacobs, but Jacobs showed that he is a very capable receiver while at Alabama. Josh Jacobs should be a top-20 running back, and the Raiders ground game will benefit from opponents giving more respect to the Raider's passing attack with Antonio Brown and Tyrell Williams out wide.

REST OF SEASON OUTLOOK AND POSITION RANK

Expect Josh Jacobs to be a reliable fantasy starter the rest of the season. His 170 projected fantasy points puts him at #15 behind Chris Carson and ahead of Devonta Freeman. His projected per game average is 10.6 fantasy points. His rank based on avg proj (#16) is worse than his rank based on total fantasy points. He is underrated if you compare his ownership based rank with his projection rank. At 93%, he is the #30 most highly owned running back.

JOSH JACOBS WEEK 1 AND 2 FANTASY OUTLOOK

Josh Jacobs is projected for 11.1 fantasy points which is good enough to be the #14 ranked running back and a must start for most owners. This is projected to be a slightly better than average week with more fantasy points than he is projected to average the rest of the season. He is ranked above Austin Ekeler but behind Le`Veon Bell. Week 2 will be better based on projected rank (#10). He is projected for 11.6 fantasy points.

JOSH JACOBS IS THE #14 RB ON FANDUEL AND IS THE #23 HIGHEST PRICED

He is projected for 12.5 FanDuel points and priced at $6.5K. Using average points per dollar in the player pool, he is expected to produce 10.87 FPs, making him worth +$975 more than $6.5K. Below are how he ranks on FanDuel. Look for players with comparable or more fantasy points at a lower or same salary.

FANTASY PROJECTIONS AND ACTUAL STATS

The tables below show projected stats (totals and averages) for the rest of the season and upcoming weeks.