The Oakland Raiders are getting back Maurice Jones-Drew for Week 4 of the season and now fantasy football owners should feel good about starting him, while Darren McFadden, James Jones, Derek Carr, Mychal Rivera and Denarius Moore are the best starting options for owners for the game against the Miami Dolphins in London from Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
McFadden has been getting the bulk of the carries with Drew out and now that he is coming back he will take a bit of a hit moving forward for fantasy owners. According to Pro Football Talk, Drew is ready to come back after dealing with hand surgery and he was able to practice this week with no issues. This season he has 11 yards and nine rushes to go along with two catches for 12 yards and he will be looking to get things going in England.
McFadden has played okay without Drew in the lineup, going for nearly 100 yards on 30 carries and he should actually benefit from having Drew back in the fold. Having both players healthy gives the offense a chance to do some more things for Derek Carr and he needs all the help he can get right now. James Jones has been very solid for the team, but past that there hasn't been much to get excited about. Mychal Rivera has tons of potential and so far Denarius Moore and Rod Streater have been disappointments and the Raiders will be looking to bounce back now in Week 4.
Jones has been the most consistent receiver for the Raiders and that likely will continue through the season for him and Derek Carr. Jones had a nice game with nine catches for 112 yards and a TD against the Texans in Week 2, but he decreased that against the Patriots in Week 3 with just three catches for 40 yards. Jones is the best start option for the team and he comes in ahead of Moore and Streater along with new signing Vincent Brown.
McFadden has the potential to be a very strong fantasy back, but he continued to get injured and while that has not yet happened this season, it is very likely at some point. McFadden has been injured every year he has been with the Raiders in the NFL and the most games he has played in any season were 13 and that was back in 2010. McFadden had an amazing year in 2010 with over 1500 total yards and that included career highs in rushing yards, catches and receiving yards as well as touchdowns and carries.
Last season Jones missed two games and still ended up with nearly 60 catches for 817 yards and the yardage was a career high for Jones. Two years ago Jones had 14 touchdown catches on 64 receptions and the Raiders are hoping that he can continue to find the end zone and he should be the leading receiver heading into week 4. The team also has Andre Holmes and Brice Butler, but as receivers go, Moore and Jones are the ones to watch for the Raiders.