Who Should I Start? Latavius Murray or Ameer Abdullah

Saturday, December 23, 12:23 AM

Buffalo Bills running back Latavius Murray remains somewhat in play for Week 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers. Murray vultured a short touchdown in last Sunday's easy win over the Dallas Cowboys, preventing featured back James Cook from an even bigger evening than his 221-yard outburst. Though Murray handled two red-zone touches in Week 15, he played his lowest rate of snaps (15.6%) and ran his fewest number of routes (one) for a mere 11 total yards. Murray is almost certainly going to need a touchdown and perhaps for the Bills to form a sizable lead to have any chance at a decent outcome in Round 2 of fantasy's postseason. It needs to be noted that Ty Johnson's (shoulder) snaps have ascended in each of Buffalo's prior three outings, out-snapping Murray altogether against Dallas. Murray is nothing more than an emergency RB4/flex if Johnson ends up missing Saturday with a shoulder injury.

Friday, January 3, 6:07 PM

After initially being listed as doubtful, the Las Vegas Raiders have downgraded running back Ameer Abdullah (foot) to out for the Week 18 regular-season finale on Sunday against the division-rival Los Angeles Chargers after he missed practice all week. Abdullah injured his foot in the Week 17 loss to the New Orleans Saints in which he had the first 100-yard rushing day of the season. With the 31-year-old getting an early start to the offseason, the Raiders will use Alexander Mattison as their lead back against LA at Allegiant Stadium, with rookie Dylan Laube and Chris Collier also seeing action in a change-of-pace role. Abdullah saw additional opportunities in the second half of this season due to injuries to Mattison and Zamir White, but he'll finish his third season in Sin City with only 311 rushing yards and two TDs on 66 carries over 16 games. He added a career-high 40 catches for 261 yards and three more TDs.