Who Should I Start? Raheem Mostert or Dameon Pierce

Sunday, September 7, 12:00 PM

Las Vegas Raiders running back Raheem Mostert is inactive for Week 1 of the 2025 regular season on Sunday against the New England Patriots. Mostert is healthy heading into the regular-season opener, so this is a bad sign for his potential involvement in the Raiders' backfield this year in his first year with the team. The Raiders drafted rookie Ashton Jeanty in the first round in April, and he's fully expected to lead Vegas' backfield in his first year in the NFL. The oft-injured Mostert has now been bumped down the depth chart and will open the year as the RB4 behind Jeanty, Zamir White and Dylan Laube. The 33-year-old veteran can be dumped if you were rostering him as a handcuff for Jeanty in redraft leagues. Mostert led the league with 18 rushing touchdowns in 2023 in Miami but played in 13 games last year and fell to just two TDs.

Sunday, September 14, 6:35 AM

Houston Texans running back Dameon Pierce did get a little bit of playing time in Week 1, but he does not look to be a large part of the Texans' backfield rotation coming into their Week 2 matchup against the Buccaneers on Monday. Pierce played only seven snaps (11%) in Week 1 against the Rams, taking his three carries for three yards. He played well behind starter Nick Chubb and passing-down back Dare Ogunbowale. He and Woody Marks got identical workloads, but neither of them showed much reason for more work going forward. Pierce could still have upside later in the year if he claims a bigger role, but for now, he's in an extremely limited role in a struggling offense, so he can be on waiver wires in most leagues. He's only the RB72 in RotoBaller's Week 2 rankings.