Oakland Raiders rumors: Darren McFadden to be starter?

Although the Oakland Raiders brought in Maurice Jones-Drew this offseason, it appears more and more likely that Darren McFadden will be Oakland’s starting running back come Week 1 of the 2014 NFL season.

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For a few months now there have been suggestions that McFadden (who the team was also apparently trying out in kick returns) would potentially beat MJD out of a starting job and now Steve Corkran of the Contra Costa Times believes that if DMC is healthy, he’ll be the Oakland Raiders starting running back.

Not only does Corkran believe that McFadden will be the man in the Raiders backfield but also suggests that McFadden will have the most yards from scrimmage for any Oakland Raiders tailback, though that’s not exactly shocking considering he’s the most athletic of the players expected to see carries.

Of course, such a sentiment requires DMC to remain healthy and that has proven to be a problem for the oft-injured running back who seemingly spends a portion of his season nursing nagging injuries.

Given that McFadden has not played more than 13 games in a season since 2010, it seems highly questionable to suggest that he’ll remain in good health through the season.

If he does fall victim to the injury bug, it’s possible that Maurice Jones-Drew could potentially run away with the job, though he’ll need to show his former flash if he’s to keep the job once McFadden is healthy.

Whatever the case may be, at least Oakland has solid talent in their backfield to deal with injuries or sub-par play from one of their main backs.