Summer Sleeper: Oakland Raiders

Paul Perdichizzi Posted On July 29, 2015

raiders

We continue our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series where DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going give you the likes of mainstream sleepers like Allen Robinson or C.J. Anderson, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Alfred Morris is going to spring up. Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

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Roy Helu, RB OAK
(Sleeper)

When Helu was drafted out of Nebraska, he had the size and build (5’11”, 215 pounds) to be a possible feature back. During his rookie season, he showed glimpses of living up to that potential rushing for 640 yards and catching 49 passes for 379 yards. After a lost second season due to injury, Washington gave him very few carries the next two years as he was exclusively used as their pass catching back. While Oakland signed him this off-season with the same role in mind, the door is open for Helu to become an even bigger part of the offense. The depth chart at running back for Oakland is filled with question marks. The current starter is Latavius Murray, who was a sixth round pick out of UCF. Murray did not play during his rookie season due to injury and last year only had 82 carries, mostly coming in the final six games of the season. While people are high on Murray due to his size and speed, he is still very much unproven. Also on the depth chart is former first round bust Trent Richardson. After a solid rookie year with Cleveland in 2012, Richardson was traded early in the 2013 season to Indianapolis and has had two below average seasons with the Colts. While he is hoping to prove his doubters wrong with the Raiders this year, the odds are low Richardson is ever more than a backup running back again.

With so much uncertainty surrounding Murray and Richardson, if Helu can show he can be a weapon both rushing and receiving, he may find himself getting many more touches than expected. If Helu ever received eight to 12 carries a game, in addition to his pass catching work, he would be squarely on the RB2 range in all PPR leagues. If he does not get many carries, Helu can still have RB3 value in deep PPR leagues. He has the opportunity to become a favorite of quarterback Derek Carr, as Carr often in his rookie year looked to shorter check down options. In addition, while the Raiders defense should be better this year, they could find themselves behind in many games in the second half, which means Helu will find himself on the field often in comeback mode. I think Helu has a chance to catch between 55 and 65 passes this upcoming season.

Rod Streater, WR OAK
(Deep Sleeper)

With the selection of Amari Cooper in the first round of this year’s draft and the free agent signing of veteran Michael Crabtree, Streater has become a forgotten man on the Raiders receiver depth chart. While Cooper’s role seems easy to see as most likely their number one receiver and leader in targets this season, the rest of the depth chart is wide open. Crabtree carries a big name as a former first round pick of the San Francisco 49ers who produced a season of 85 receptions for 1,105 yards and nine touchdowns as recently as 2012. However, the questions arise with Crabtree due to a severe injury he suffered in 2013 when he ruptured his Achilles tendon. He missed the majority of the 2013 season and then last year never looked like the player he once was before the injury. He looked slow and unable to create separation at the catch point. He signed a one-year deal with Oakland, hoping to show that two years removed from his injury, he can regain his pre injury skills and sign a more lucrative and long-term free agent deal next year. If Crabtree never regains that form, the opportunity will be wide open for Streater to become a bigger part of the offense. While Streater missed most of last season with a broken foot, in 2013 he had a very solid season securing 60 receptions for 888 yards and four touchdowns. If given a chance to put together a season like that, he would be a solid WR4 in deep PPR leagues. While there are some injury concerns with Streater as well, the reports have been good on him this off-season, stating he looks to have gained his explosion back and is looking forward to competing for playing time – that competition for snaps will be with Andre Holmes, Kenbrell Thompkins and Brice Butler, three unproven players who have had minimal success at the NFL level. I think Streater will easily win the number three role, and by years end, could be pushing Crabtree for a starting role even in two wide sets.

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