Both the Raiders and Chargers impressed in Week 1, putting the rest of the AFC West on notice and raising the anticipation of their Monday Night Football showdown in Las Vegas. With the Chiefs and Broncos both losing in Week 2, the urgency is improbably high with the early division lead at stake. The Chargers are 3.5-point road favorites with the over/under at 46.5.
QUARTERBACK
Neither offense generally aspires to throw the ball much, so it's tough to gauge the slate significance of Justin Herbert ($10000 DK, $13200 FD) and Geno Smith ($9400 DK, $12600 FD), especially when we might have reason to expect both defenses to play well, too.
Then again, Smith and especially Herbert might be capable of producing against a tough defense – Herbert did as much against the Chiefs in Week 1 – and shootouts have broken out over less. Neither secondary is loaded with talent. It makes sense to consider a quarterback in this game as a means of fading the running game on the team in question, but it also makes sense to go for a full stack of the offense in question given the standout upside of the running back starters.
RUNNING BACK
The rookie duo of Ashton Jeanty ($11000 DK, $10800 FD) and Omarion Hampton ($7800 DK, $8200 FD) is arguably the most pressing question of this slate. Both players are likely very talented, yet neither has truly taken off yet and both defenses figure to play the run tough. When/if they do take off, though, Jeanty and Hampton are the types of talents to go from quiet to very loud with no notice.
Najee Harris ($4800 DK, $5200 FD) is more of a threat to poach playing time from Hampton than Zamir White ($2400 DK, $1600 FD) is to Jeanty, so that's the main reason the prices of Jeanty and Hampton diverge so much.
WIDE RECEIVER + TIGHT END
Brock Bowers ($10400 DK, $11400 FD) is expected to play through a knee injury that restricted him to just one limited practice all week, but the injury appears real enough to lower Bowers' projection a bit. Michael Mayer ($3400 DK, $4200 FD) is overqualified as a TE2 and is likely capable of impressing if Bowers surprisingly has to sit out.
Jakobi Meyers ($7000 DK, $9200 FD) is another leading candidate to pick up the slack if Bowers is out or limited. Even against a tough Chargers secondary, it's not easy to fade a player as locked-in as Meyers. It helps Meyers that Tre Tucker ($4400 DK, $5800 FD) and Dont'e Thornton ($4000 DK, $3800 FD) provide excellent decoy coverage while otherwise functioning as big-play specialists. The Chargers corners are not especially fast, so they should expect the Raiders to test them deep at least a couple times. Jack Bech only played four snaps in Week 1.
Keenan Allen ($6400 DK, $8800 FD) led the Chargers with 10 targets in Week 1 and should stay busy in this one, though it might be fair to suggest that the Raiders corners are less threatened by Allen underneath than they are Ladd McConkey ($10800 DK, $12000 FD) downfield. The Raiders corners get by on scheme and moxie more than raw ability, so louder talents like McConkey could be trouble for the Raiders. Quentin Johnston ($7400 DK, $7400 FD) is fully on the radar after his big Week 1, too. Tre' Harris ($2000 DK, $3200 FD) has the talent to produce but probably not the opportunity in the meantime.
Guessing the Chargers tight ends isn't easy, because Tyler Conklin ($3000 DK, $2800 FD) is their best receiver but blocking specialist Will Dissly ($2800 DK, $4600 FD) is the actual starter. Dissly isn't a zero as a receiver, either – he just happens to be so good at blocking that he gets asked to do more of it than most tight ends. Either player is a justifiable pick if thought of as a punt.
KICKER
Both kickers in this game are very good. Daniel Carlson ($5000 DK, $6800 FD) might not be quite as dominant as he used to be but he remains a threat to accumulate double-digit fantasy points in any given game. Cameron Dicker ($5400 DK, $7000 FD) is probably a little better yet overall, and like Carlson's case there's no obvious reason why Dicker can't go well past double-digit fantasy points in this one.
DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS
The Raiders overachieved in Week 1, making the sledding tough on the road against the Patriots, and until further notice the Raiders defense will need to be taken more seriously than anyone planned to a week ago. Still, the overachieving detail is key: overachieving is great, but at some point you need real talent and the Raiders might not have enough at cornerback to contend with the Chargers' reformed wideout rotation. Then again, the edge rush of Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce is one any team needs to take seriously.
The Chargers ($4200 DK, $6200 FD) defense is farther along in its rebuild than the Raiders, but the Chargers too will need to be careful against a Raiders offense with a new workhorse in Jeanty and a unique combination of speed threats in Tucker and Thornton. If the Chargers can limit big plays then the pass rush of Khalil Mack and Tuli Tuipulotu could be an issue for the Raiders.
