Alexander Mattison

Bowers led the Raiders' in targets in his first NFL game and trailed only Davante Adams in targets versus Baltimore. He also came tantalizingly close to his first career touchdown this week. Bowers caught a deep shot from Gardner Minshew and fought through tacklers to the one-yard line before being brought down. Alexander Mattison punched in the goal line attempt one play later. Bowers is already being peppered with targets and showed his ability to pick up chunk games this week. He is moving up the TE1 ranks ahead of his Week 3 date with the Panthers.

White out-carried backup Alexander Mattison 9-4 in this game. Mattison didn't see a target while drew four looks. Despite being the clear RB1 in the backfield, White had a one-yard score vultured by Mattison in the second half. The backup runner caught a touchdown pass last week and White is still looking for his first score of the year. White loose grip on a low-value backfield makes it impossible to trust him for fantasy purposes. He's at risk of slipping out of the RB3 ranks if he posts another dud in Week 3 versus the Panthers.

Mattison scored once on nine touches in Week 1 and got his second touchdown on the year on just four touches this week. Zamir White has easily out-touched Mattison in both games, but the Raiders staff seems to trust the latter near the goal line and on passing downs. Mattison will be a touchdown-or-bust RB5 for his Week 3 matchup with the Panthers.

Fantasy football analyst Scott Pianowski identifies his top sleepers for Week 2.

The bigger story here was the split backfield between White and Alexander Mattison, the latter of whom scored a touchdown on 10 opportunities. Furthermore, rookie running back Dylan Laube was inactive in Week 1, indicating the potential for a strict timeshare moving forward between the top two options in the backfield. That spells potential fantasy trouble for managers that invested a top-100 pick into the third-year running back, particularly considering the inability for White to separate himself from Mattison after the latter's poor showing in 2023 as a member of the Vikings.