DRBR: Las Vegas Raiders

I feel like the Las Vegas Raiders' DRBR may be one of the most visited parts of the draft guide because everybody wants to hear my take on Zamir White and what we might be looking for in 2024. Now, White, at the end of 2023, kind of came on as the starter when Josh Jacobs was injured and had some good games. But how do we figure out if that's going to carry over into an entire season in 2024? I'm here to tell you right now—it doesn't look good.

In the past, when I've used the DRBR to try and predict which running backs were going to have a breakout campaign, there were a couple of factors that I was looking for. Two of those main factors were what they scored on their yards after contact and tackles avoided per attempt. In both of those areas, at minimum, we needed to be looking at a score of 60 in both of those areas to really catch my attention. But for me to go all in on a player, one of those categories needed to be above 70. For me to really buy into that player and push him as the next breakout candidate, both of those categories needed to be over 70.

Now, for yards after contact, Zamir White almost gets there—he's at 69. But his tackles avoided per attempt was extremely low, all the way down at 50, and that's why I have some concerns. Yards after contact—Zamir White may be able to run through a few guys, but in his limited time on the field last season, he was not very efficient or dynamic when it came to making defenders miss.

For as bad as Alexander Mattison was last season, and as much as everybody watching this who is a Zamir White truther for this year wants to dismiss Mattison, I wouldn't do it just yet because his tackles avoided per attempt came in at 74 last season. So yeah, in yards after contact, Zamir White was better. But in tackles avoided per attempt, Alexander Mattison was better. That's one of the reasons why I don't think Alexander Mattison is going anywhere, and I don't think Zamir White is just walking away with the job.

I'm certainly not investing in Zamir White to be any type of a lead back on my team. I don't want him as my RB1. I don't want him as my RB2. If I get him as a flex option, you better have some backup plans invested in him. If something were to happen and Alexander Mattison starts to get more touches and White just can't get it done, you'll have a better option to throw in your lineup.