Josh Jacobs Illness Update Boosts Kenyan Drake Fantasy Outlook for Monday Night Football Game

Updated (Monday, 9/13, 3:55 p.m. EST): Josh Jacobs was downgraded to questionable for the season opener last night. But he's reportedly trending toward playing. Assuming this trend holds and Jacobs suits up, he's a safe bet to return low-end RB2 value against the Baltimore Ravens tonight. A healthy Jacobs would also mean Kenyan Drake is little more than a low-end FLEX play.

When the Las Vegas Raiders brought in Kenyan Drake this offseason, it created headaches for fantasy football managers. Jacobs was RB8 in PPR leagues last season, but the emergence of Drake (RB16) and his pass-catching abilities left the situation very unclear.

However, the Raiders may enter their Week 1 Monday Night Football contest without a key member of this dynamic duo.

Josh Jacobs Illness

Late on Sunday night, Jacobs was downgraded to questionable for Monday's game against the Baltimore Ravens. This casts a huge level of doubt around Jacobs' availability for Week 1.

Kenyan Drake Fantasy Outlook

On the other hand, this leaves great potential for fantasy managers with Drake on their rosters. Jacobs operated as a true workhorse last season, ranking third in the NFL with 273 total carries. If he's unable to go for Week 1, that's an average of 18.2 carries per game potentially up for grabs.

Drake was firmly slotted behind Jacobs on the Raiders running back depth chart. Monday night's matchup against the Ravens' defense is no easy take for Drake, even as the potentially lead back. Baltimore surrendered just 21.76 PPR points to opposing running backs in 2020, the 12th fewest in the league.

Still, volume is king. Las Vegas ran the ball on 45.3% of their plays a year ago, a top-10 mark in the league. Keep an eye out on this Jacobs' playing status as it could make waves for Drake's fantasy outlook ahead of Monday Night Football action.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.