Oakland Raiders Stock Watch: Latavius Murray, T.J. Carrie

The Oakland Raiders remain winless and are now at double-digit losses after getting swept by the San Diego Chargers, but it was another close encounter. This battle was a lot more ugly than the Derek Carr vs. Philip Rivers back-and-forth that we saw last time, and the Raiders will be disappointed that they weren’t able to pull off the win after beating a more impressive Chargers team last year. It’s not necessarily that the Chargers have less talent this year, but rather that they are playing worse at this moment in time. Let’s take a look at the Raiders stock report after yesterday’s 13-6 loss, which includes positive thoughts on two young players.

Stock Up RB Latavius Murray

I think most people have been clamoring for young physical specimen Latavius Murray to get more carries, and the Raiders have nothing to lose by giving him more reps…so why the heck aren’t they doing it? Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew have been the NFL’s weakest running back duo this season, whereas Murray has shown flashes of potential. Or put it this way: you have no freaking wins, what do you have to lose? What if Murray ends up being a building block for your franchise?

The Raiders gave him just four carries, but hopefully the fact that he turned those meager four rushes into a nice 34 yards means that the Raiders will finally allow him to handle more rushing duties. Meanwhile, McFadden had 21 yards on double the carries, and I still don’t know why the Raiders bothered to keep him around.

Stock Up OLB Khalil Mack

Beast. As I said a couple of weeks ago, Mack is my DROY, and there are few outside linebackers in this league who are better than him in run defense. He added another solid performance to his resume, recording a sack, an additional tackle for loss, and five total tackles with four going for a loss. He could have been more efficient as a pass rusher against the Chargers offensive line, but he continues to be an absolute wrecking ball in run D. That isn’t common for most rookie OLBs, and Mack is more than just a pass rusher. In fact, his run defense and motor are the best parts of his game.

Stock Down WR Andre Holmes

An inefficient outing from the athletic receiver, as Holmes could only muster 19 yards on two receptions with six targets thrown in his direction. That’s barely over three yards per target, which was less than Derek Carr’s already below-average 5.1 yards per attempt. Holmes has four receiving touchdowns this season, but I don’t think he’s taken enough steps forward this season. That said, the Raiders offensive set-up doesn’t really do him any favors and it, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t do Carr any favors either.

Stock Down QB Derek Carr

I’ve always loved Carr as a QB, I was high on him in the pre-draft process, and, like everyone else, I think he’s been the best QB in the class thus far (though the competition hasn’t exactly been fierce). He’s done OK with nothing around him, but I am more than willing to call him out if he plays a subpar game. The Raiders scored just six points, and that alone is enough to warrant some criticism. It doesn’t all fall on Carr, but he averaged just 5.1 yards per attempt and completed less than half of his passes with a 16-34 line. That’s pretty terrible, and he also lost a fumble (he had two total fumbles in the game) to boot. Carr has slipped lately, but I still have faith in him long term.

Stock Up T.J. Carrie

Why do I have more players with a rising stock than a lower stock if the Raiders lost? Well, first of all, it’s annoying to always focus on the negatives, since we know the Raiders are winless, and most of their players have low stocks anyway. Plus, it’s more interesting to look at potential building blocks like Mack, Carrie, and Murray, and the defense did play very well by holding the Chargers to 13 and Philip Rivers to just 5.7 yards per attempt.

Carrie was part of that defensive effort, as he continues to make good on the offseason hype and is definitely someone to continue watch closely for the remainder of the season. He spent most of his time in the slot and made up for a 22-yard TD allowed to veteran Malcom Floyd by holding opposing players, per the Pro Football Focus, to just eight yards after the catch. Limiting YAC is a key part of playing the slot, and Carrie did a solid job after getting dominated in Week 9 by the Seattle Seahawks. Oh, and he also added a pass defended.