Josh Jacobs Fantasy Replacements: Ravens, Raiders Waiver Options to Target if Las Vegas RB Doesn’t Play

Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images. Pictured: Josh Jacobs #28 of the Las Vegas Raiders

Monday Night Football’s Baltimore Ravens vs. Las Vegas Raiders matchup appears to be a curse for running backs.

Baltimore lost key ball-carriers JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards to torn ACLs prior to the start of the season, and now it might be Las Vegas’s turn to deal with a key running back absence.

On Sunday night, news broke that Raiders running back Josh Jacobs is questionable for Monday Night Football due to an undisclosed illness.

Jacob’s potential absence has had little effect on the Ravens vs. Raiders odds — Baltimore is a 4-point favorite with a game total of 51.5 — but the news certainly sent fantasy football managers scrambling, especially since Week 1 was largely completed when we learned of Jacobs’ illness.

As a result, most fantasy football players have very few options to replace Jacobs, who clocked in at No. 20 in our fantasy football Week 1 running back rankings, making him a back-end RB2 in most leagues.

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Josh Jacobs Fantasy Football Replacements

If you do need a backup plan for Jacobs, the first box to check is the whether Kenyan Drake is available to pick up for insurance.

Unfortunately Drake’s ADP this season was 109 overall per FantasyPros, so it’s very unlikely that he’s available in your league. He’s 78% rostered in Yahoo! leagues.

The next best options are to try and snag any Ravens or Raiders running backs further down the depth chart, like Las Vegas’ Peyton Barber (1% rostered in Yahoo! leagues) or Baltimore’s newly-signed Latavius Murray (62%), Le’Veon Bell (46%) or Trenton Cannon (1%). Ty’Son Williams is an option too and we project him for the best day at 10.83 PPR points, but at 79%, he’s probably gone.

Projections via FantasyLabs. PPR scoring.

At the time of writing, inactives have yet to be announced, so be sure to keep an eye on that news once available.

And don’t forget, if you’re lucky enough to have slid Jacobs into a FLEX spot ahead of Sunday’s action, you have the luxury of swapping in or picking up a player at another position (like wide receiver or potentially tight end) to fill the void if needed.

Hunter Renfrow has a lower ceiling but is available in almost every league. Sammy Watkins could be the second or third option in the passing game for Baltimore, and comes in at low ownership, as well.

Projections via FantasyLabs. PPR scoring.

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