The Raiders plan to release Kenyan Drake, and that has me thinking Ameer Abdullah could be a sneaky decent depth pick in PPR drafts. I’m thinking Abdullah will catch a decent number of passes as a third-down back.
Not that Abdullah is going to start. The Raiders have Josh Jacobs to handle those duties. If and when he breaks down, I think they’ll turn to Zamir White.
But I think the Raiders will have a third-down back. I think that’s why they signed Abdullah. Josh McDaniels has coached in New England in recent years, and he was always partial there to having a pass-catching specialist who’d come in for obvious passing situations – James White and Brandon Bolden, most recently.
Abdullah has had an up-and-down career since the Lions picked him in the second round back in 2015. He lasted four years there, and he spent four years with the Vikings. With Carolina late last year, however, he showed some potential to be a White-type third-down back. Abdullah caught 35 passes in Carolina’s final 10 games last year. Only five running backs during that time period caught more passes.
The Raiders also, of course, signed Brandon Bolden. He played for McDaniels last year, catching 27 passes in those final 10 weeks. But Bolden is an older, slower guy – really more of a backup and special teams guy. I think it will be Abdullah rather than Bolden that will handle that role.
If McDaniels’ offense is anything like the ones he orchestrated in New England, Abdullah could be a cheaper version of J.D. McKissic and Nyheim Hines.
Drake should hit the waiver wire tomorrow. I doubt that any team will claim him, and I wouldn't think any team will be interested in him as a No. 2 running back. When he signs somewhere, it's more likely to be as a serviceable third-down back.
| RUNNING BACK RECEPTIONS (last 10 games) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Tgt | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 7 | 50 | 42 | 232 | 5.5 | 2 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 10 | 48 | 40 | 238 | 6.0 | 0 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 9 | 52 | 37 | 345 | 9.3 | 5 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 10 | 45 | 37 | 194 | 5.2 | 1 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 9 | 42 | 36 | 252 | 7.0 | 0 |
| Ameer Abdullah, Car. | 10 | 49 | 35 | 272 | 7.8 | 1 |
| Darrel Williams, K.C. | 10 | 39 | 34 | 350 | 10.3 | 2 |
| James Conner, Ari. | 8 | 34 | 32 | 341 | 10.7 | 3 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 9 | 32 | 29 | 224 | 7.7 | 2 |
| Devontae Booker, NYG | 10 | 31 | 28 | 195 | 7.0 | 0 |
| Antonio Gibson, Was. | 9 | 34 | 28 | 170 | 6.1 | 2 |
| Devonta Freeman, Balt. | 10 | 33 | 28 | 131 | 4.7 | 1 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 10 | 39 | 27 | 159 | 5.9 | 1 |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 8 | 37 | 27 | 133 | 4.9 | 1 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 8 | 37 | 26 | 205 | 7.9 | 2 |
| Devin Singletary, Buff. | 10 | 31 | 26 | 189 | 7.3 | 1 |
| AJ Dillon, G.B. | 10 | 25 | 24 | 223 | 9.3 | 1 |
| Nyheim Hines, Ind. | 10 | 33 | 24 | 179 | 7.5 | 1 |
| Tony Pollard, Dall. | 8 | 30 | 23 | 221 | 9.6 | 0 |
| Javonte Williams, Den. | 10 | 31 | 23 | 194 | 8.4 | 2 |
| Rex Burkhead, Hou. | 10 | 28 | 23 | 175 | 7.6 | 0 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 8 | 29 | 22 | 151 | 6.9 | 0 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 10 | 30 | 22 | 147 | 6.7 | 1 |
| Brandon Bolden, N.E. | 10 | 27 | 21 | 243 | 11.6 | 1 |
| Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 4 | 24 | 21 | 180 | 8.6 | 1 |
| Mike Davis, Atl. | 10 | 28 | 21 | 149 | 7.1 | 0 |
| Myles Gaskin, Mia. | 10 | 27 | 21 | 88 | 4.2 | 1 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson, Atl. | 9 | 28 | 20 | 215 | 10.8 | 0 |
| D'Andre Swift, Det. | 6 | 26 | 20 | 61 | 3.1 | 0 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan