Upside by Chris Smith
Fargas has decent size, exceptional speed and great quickness. He has all the tools to be an impact player at the NFL level. Why then did he do next to nothing last season with the Raiders? Unfortunately his one downfall is his inability to stay healthy for significant amounts of time. That was a problem he fought through while in college and it has carried forward to the professional level. You have to believe that Fargas has a great opportunity though this season to break out with a productive campaign and he is taken very late in drafts if at all. He could represent nice value to fantasy owners this season

Reasons for optimism

• He has lots of talent and blazing speed



• He was rated just below Chris Brown coming out last season and ran a sizzling 4.3 in the forty



• The Raiders have a ton of mediocre running backs on the roster (Wheatley, Hambrick, Zereoue are average football players at best)



• He has good size for a scat back at 220 pounds

Bottom Line
Taking a chance on a player like Fargas in the second half of your fantasy draft can make the difference for your fantasy team. Sure there is a chance he may not do anything this year but I believe he has the best chance of all of the current Raider running backs to be a game-breaker and he will see plenty of action if he can stay healthy. If you have a chance to pick him up in the later rounds of your fantasy draft, roll the dice on Fargas.

Downside by David Yudkin
Minimal workload equals minimal production

It's easy to see why Justin Fargas will not be very productive this season. Quite simply, there are just too many RB in Oakland this year for him to make an impact. Fargas joins Tyrone Wheatley, Amos Zereoue, Zack Crockett, and Troy Hambrick in the crowded Raiders' backfield.

Oakland ranked 21st and 23rd in rushing attempts the past two seasons with the focus of the offense a vertical attack. With a new coach and a core of aging veterans, it's hard to predict what the offensive scheme will feature this year. But the strength of the team still appears to be in the passing attack, and the ground game will again likely suffer.

Tyrone Wheatley is currently slotted to be the primary ball handler out of the backfield with Zereoue most likely the third down back and Crockett the short yardage and goal line back. That does not leave much left over for Fargas. He may be the youngest, but that may not get him any bonus points in winning the starting job.

From what I've seen, the Raiders had no intention of Fargas becoming the primary back in Oakland. Even now, the management has not been indicating that Fargas is a serious contender for the starting job. He also has the reputation of having the injury bug, and that certainly won't help any. He only was able to muster 40 carries last season, and there's a decent chance he won't get much more than that this year.

Add it all up, and it appears the chances are slim that Fargas will have much of a chance to do much this year. He will likely end the year more of a footnote in the season's stats than a breakout performer.