Fantasy Index

Around the NFL

Latavius Murray

Back should benefit from Osemele signing

The Raiders gave Kelechi Osemele the largest contract ever for a guard, and Osemele, at least, has no doubt he's worth it. The important thing is whether his signing pays off for Latavius Murray and Oakland's moribund running game.

“I come from a place where we believe in running the ball, and it’s good to be with another organization where that seems to be the goal with what they want to do,” Osemele says. That story can be found at this link from the team website.

Osemele has started for the Ravens for the last four years, and although 2015 didn't show it, they've been better running the ball than Oakland over that span. In those four seasons, Oakland had a bottom-5 rushing offense three times. Baltimore had a top-11 group in two of those four seasons.

Lot of components to a successful ground game, and Baltimore didn't have one last season even with Osemele. But it looks promising that the blocking will be better this year for Murray. And probably worse for whoever the Ravens settle on from their multitude of running backs.

Team rushing rankings over the last four seasons, sorted by the most recent, are shown below.

TEAM RUSHING RANKS, 2012-2015
Team12 Rk13 Rk14 Rk15 Rk
Buffalo62251
Carolina91172
Seattle3413
Minnesota28144
Tampa Bay1522295
Kansas City510106
St. Louis1919207
Arizona3223318
Dallas312429
NY Jets126310
Chicago10162711
Green Bay2071112
Cincinnati1818613
Philadelphia131914
Houston820515
Pittsburgh26271616
Denver16151517
NY Giants14292318
Atlanta29322419
Washington151920
San Francisco43421
Cleveland24281722
Miami17261223
New Orleans25251324
Tennessee21142625
Baltimore1130826
Jacksonville30312127
Oakland28123228
Indianapolis22212229
New England791830
San Diego27133031
Detroit23172832

--Andy Richardson

Fantasy Index