Preseason Week 2 Fantasy Football Game Recap: Las Vegas Raiders vs. Los Angeles Rams

• Michael Mayer and Austin Hooper debut for the Las Vegas Raiders: Neither player is likely to see enough playing time to make them fantasy starters.

• Jakobi Meyers makes a short appearance: Meyers played one drive, giving us a quick glimpse of how he might be used in the regular season.

• Puka Nacua moves to fourth on the depth chart: The fifth-round rookie was one of several Los Angeles Rams who didn’t have to play in this game.

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Las Vegas Raiders @ Los Angeles Rams

Michael Mayer makes his debut: Mayer played more on the Raiders' first drive, but it’s unlikely he will find much success in fantasy football early in the 2023 season.

• Austin Hooper also made his Raiders debut.
• On the first two drives, Mayer played eight snaps and Hooper played six. Mayer played 100% of 21 personnel snaps while Hooper played 100% in 11.
• The two continued to play throughout the first half. Mayer would continue to play all of the snaps in 12 personnel, which led to 10 run blocks, one pass block and one pass route.
• He did receive a few snaps in 11 personnel throughout the half, leading to four pass routes and one run block.
• Hooper on the other hand played 20 snaps in 11 personnel, leading to 16 pass routes.
• Typically,11 personnel is more pass-heavy while 21 is more run-heavy, so Hooper will likely run significantly more routes than Mayer as long as the two keep these roles.
• The Raiders oddly never ran a play out of a two-tight end set in the first half.
• Hooper could be a sneaky sleeper who could have success earlier in the season, but over time, we should expect Mayer to chip away from Hooper’s playing time.

Jakobi Meyers also makes his Raiders debut: Meyers took every snap on the Raiders' first drive before his day was done.

• This included playing in 21 and 11 personnel groupings. 
• He will likely see more snaps on the outside than in the slot this season due to how much the Raiders play with only two wide receivers on the field.
• Las Vegas only ran three plays out of 11 personnel on the first drive. Meyers lined up along in the slot one play, the middle wide receiver with three wide receivers on the same side on one play, and on the outside on one play with DeAndre Carter in the slot.
• We don’t know exactly how much he will be in the slot once Hunter Renfrow is playing, but it seems pretty clear he will almost always be on the field.

Puka Nacua appears to win the fourth wide receiver spot: The fifth-round rookie was among the several Rams not playing in this game.

• He played in the first half last week along with Demarcus Robinson and Ben Skowronek while Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson and Tutu Atwell had the day off.
• Kupp, Jefferson and Atwell had Saturday night off as well, with Nacua joining them.
• This is a good sign he’s won the fourth spot, which is particularly good considering he was picked in the fifth round.
• While he might not see enough playing time in his rookie season to be a fantasy starter, he’s definitely moving up dynasty draft boards.
• This means that one of Demarcus Robinson and Ben Skowronek is unlikely to make the Rams' final 53-man roster.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Davante Adams only played the first play for Las Vegas before calling it a day.
• Ronnie Rivers remains a clear third on the Rams' depth chart with Royce Freeman fourth. This means sixth-round rookie Zach Evans could be in danger of not making the roster.

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.

• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.