Is It Time To Give Up On Darren McFadden?

Raiders’ RB Darren McFadden was once considered a “sure thing” in the NFL. Taken #4 overall in the 2008 Draft, McFadden looked to have all the talent and opportunity needed to break out. It hasn’t worked out that way though, and the first problem may be talent. McFadden has had problems both holding on to the ball and breaking free this season.

But after three weeks this season, McFadden has four fumbles in 47 touches for the worst rate of any player with at least 20 touches.
Perhaps just as concerning has been McFadden’s inability to break off the long runs the Raiders expected when they drafted him fourth overall out of Arkansas in 2008. He has only three carries all season that have gone for more than 10 yards, with his longest being just 15.

His performance is especially disappointing when you consider the performance of some of the other running backs taken in the 2008 Draft -- Matt Forte, Chris Johnson, Tim Hightower, Kevin Smith, Steve Slaton and Ray Rice. How about that group, huh? Seventh round pick Peyton Hillis (who?) has as many 100 yard rushing games (one) as McFadden does!

The second big problem is opportunity. When you draft a running back #4 overall, you expect the guy to start right away. McFadden didn’t get the chances last season, picking up only 113 carries. The Raiders are usually behind in games so they don’t get to be a run-first team, but that worked out to only 26.4% of the running back carries in 2008. OK, giving McFadden the benefit of the doubt, maybe he was out of shape, maybe he needed time to learn the playbook.

But no, it doesn’t seem like that’s it either. So far in 2009, McFadden has 41 carries for 148 yards, an average of 3.6 yards per carry. That’s down from last year’s 4.4 yards per carry average. And while McFadden leads the team in carries, he’s only getting 53.2% of the running back touches. Those aren’t the type of numbers a trusted RB1 receives. They Raiders simply aren’t giving him the ball and letting him get himself into a groove.

At this point, fantasy owners have to wonder if it makes sense to start McFadden at all this season. He’s fumbling, he’s not running well, he’s averaging less than 15 carries per game and the Raiders are worse than expected. While some unlikely event could occur that would change the dynamic (Michael Bush and Justin Fargas both get hurt, the Raiders trade for Eli Manning, Al Davis’ undead corpse is vanquished, etc), it appears that Darren McFadden is a lost fantasy cause for 2009.