The Las Vegas Raiders will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Raiders skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 8 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Aidan O’Connell, QB
O’Connell injured his throwing hand on his 10th pass of the afternoon against the Rams, jamming it on a defender as he finished the throwing process. The team elected to start him over Gardner Minshew II, but testing on Monday revealed a broken thumb, landing him on IR, a designation that requires four missed games (with their bye in Week 10, this makes Week 13 his earliest possible return).
If you have an IR slot in a Superflex setting, I’d use it on him as any starting signal-caller holds value in a league like that. Given he’s 2.5 years younger than Minshew, not to mention that he is under contract for another two seasons), he could well get this job back in December.
The Raiders close the fantasy season with the Jaguars and Saints, a favorable two-game run that will carry no weather risks. You have to keep an open mind in deep leagues like that, but outside of such a setting, you’re not waiting for him to return.
Gardner Minshew II, QB
Minshew will take back over this Raiders offense after O’Connell was placed on IR, an offense that couldn’t support him ranking better than QB18 at any point before being benched and no longer having Davante Adams.
I think Minshew’s aggression is better for Brock Bowers and the receivers, but in terms of QB fantasy value, there is nothing actionable to do here — I give him better odds to post the worst QB+ grade of the week than threaten to produce an impactful stat line.
Alexander Mattison, RB
Mattison played 69.3% of the snaps last week, and with multiple receptions in three straight games gives him a little boost, but you’re swimming upstream if you’re banking on this offense in any capacity outside of tight end.
Efficiency has never been a strength of Mattison’s, and that puts him in a position to need a touchdown to earn your trust. That’s not an ideal profile to begin with, let alone for an offense that hasn’t cleared 20 points in over a month.
The Chiefs are winning with defense these days, and they’ve succeeded in shutting down the run in a big way. They’ve faced Jordan Mason, J.K. Dobbins, Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, and Bijan Robinson this season and have yet to allow an RB to reach 13.5 PPR points.
Mattison is barely on the Flex radar for deep leagues, and that’s saying something for a back I expect to lead his team in carries comfortably.
Zamir White, RB
It was only last winter when White got a trial run as Vegas’ lead back and had us all buying in. None of us thought he was a league winner, but we saw the Raiders give White plenty of work, and their offseason moves suggested that they were plenty comfortable with him as “the guy” in 2024.
He didn’t last until Halloween.
White played just 13.3% of the snaps last week against the Rams, ranking behind both Alexander Mattison and Ameer Abdullah. White averages under four yards per carry during his 2.5 seasons in the NFL and has yet to showcase a versatile skill set. That means that opportunity count is his only path to matter for us and something that he is no longer earning.
Fantasy football is a never-ending game of chasing volume, so if you want to keep an eye on this backfield (or you’d like to check out this section weekly as I keep an eye on it for you), that’s fine. Neither Mattison nor Abdullah have impressive track records, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this situation was influx on a weekly basis. In above-average offenses, I’m willing to stash players in such a spot and hope.
This is not an above-average offense.
Jakobi Meyers, WR
Meyers missed just four games from 2021-23, but a nagging ankle injury has now cost him consecutive games. Given how the game is geared in 2024, you’d think that any player who profiles as the clear WR1 on his team would project as a reasonable Flex option, but are we sure that’s the case on this Raiders offense?
Davante Adams averaged 9.0 targets per game for the team while Meyers, for his career, averages 16.6 PPR PPG when seeing at least nine looks. The role isn’t the problem — his quarterback and the matchup are. I can’t imagine I have to statistic you to death on the limitations of Aidan O’Connell, and sharing the fact that this Chiefs defense has locked down far more established WR1s (Ja’Marr Chase and Chris Olave combined for 10.5 PPR points against them in their games, turning 78 routes into just nine targets) feels like overkill.
I like Meyers as a player, but asking him to make chicken salad out of … well, you get the idea. It’s asking a lot.
Brock Bowers, TE
As the tight end position continues to crumble, Bowers’ rookie season becomes that much more impressive. He’s now seen double-digit targets in three straight games, and it’s not just the volume that has fantasy managers salivating; it’s where those opportunities are coming.
In Weeks 1-4, Bowers didn’t see a single red-zone look, but he’s been targeted in close every game since, fueling five top-five finishes this season.
#Raiders TE Brock Bowers is on record pace for receptions by a rookie tight end this season.
Bowers has recorded 47 receptions this season, passing the rookie record for most receptions by a tight end through 7 weeks (43 – Sam LaPorta, 2023). 😤 pic.twitter.com/iqimlUh0nz
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) October 20, 2024
At this point, he’s proven that he is situation-proof. I don’t care which receivers are active or who is under center — Bowers is on the short list of players that can pace the position in scoring the rest of the way and is an obviously weekly starter in all formats.
Kansas City Chiefs at Las Vegas Raiders
Kansas City Chiefs
Team: The Chiefs haven’t lost consecutive games vs. the Raiders since 2011-12 (three straight). Kansas City’s last loss before its current 12-game win streak (including playoffs) was at home to the Raiders on Christmas Day 2023.
QB:23 quarterbacks have started all their team’s games this season. Patrick Mahomes’ TD-Int ratio (6-8) is tied for the worst out of that whole group (Matthew Stafford has thrown 3 TD to 4 Int for the Rams).
Offense: Are the Chiefs a smashmouth offense now? Kansas City has run by design on 48.8% of its plays, far and away its highest in any season since Patrick Mahomes became the starting QB (the prior high was 38.9% in 2018). That includes a 57.9% run rate on the first down, and in the first season with Mahomes, they’ve been above 50% on the first down.
Defense: The Chiefs have allowed a touchdown on just 47.4% of red zone trips, pacing them for their best rate since the 2014 team (38.9%).
Fantasy: This is a conservative offense, but as Xavier Worthy’s role increases, there is hope – Patrick Mahomes is completing a career-high 53.6% of his passes thrown 15-plus yards down the field.
Betting: Seven of Kansas City’s past eight road divisional games have come in under the projected point total, though the one exception was Week 12, 2023 … at Vegas (31-17 win with a total of 42.5 points).
Las Vegas Raiders
Team: The Raiders own the worst per-game turnover differential in the league this season (-1.9).
QB: Gardner Minshew has two more games with multiple interceptions than multiple touchdown passes this season and misfired on 19 of 34 passes last week against a vulnerable Rams defense.
Offense: Brock Bowers has received 25.1% of the Raiders’ targets this season. That’s on track to be the highest target share by any rookie tight end since at least 2000 and the highest by a TE period since Mark Andrews for the 2021 Ravens (25.9%).
Defense: The Raiders own the fifth-highest sack rate on play-action attempts this season (8.9%).
Fantasy: Brock Bowers has five top-five finishes at the position this season, and after not seeing a red zone target in any of his first three games, he’s had a red zone in scoring position in every game since.
Betting: Over tickets have cashed in four of Vegas’ past five home games (2-1 through seven weeks this season).