Who Should I Start? Raheem Mostert or Kyle Monangai

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.

Saturday, September 13, 2:27 PM

Chicago Bears rookie running back Kyle Monangai has "earned the faith" of the Bears coaches, according to Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic. Monangai did not record a carry in Chicago's Week 1 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, but Bears head coach Ben Johnson said that he needs to call more run plays in future games. Bears RB1 D'Andre Swift struggled to be efficient against Minnesota, averaging just 3.1 yards per carry. Monangai does not appear to be a serious threat to Swift in the short term. Still, he could be a late-season breakout candidate for fantasy managers to monitor if Chicago continues to struggle to move the ball on the ground.