Maurice Jones-Drew

Raiders running back Maurice Jones-Drew won’t rule himself out of Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans. Publicly, the coaching staff has maintained a similar stance.

Though nothing formal has been announced, multiple sources have indicated that he won't be available for the home opener.

CSN Bay Area’s Fallon Smith originally reported on Wednesday that Jones-Drew had surgery on his right hand. The running back acknowledged having a procedure after Thursday’s practice, his second straight session missed.

“I’d love to go out there, but it’s a long season,” Jones-Drew said. “You want to make sure that everything is right and where it needs to be.”

Per the San Francisco Chronicle...

Offensive coordinator Greg Olson said that both Darren McFadden and Latavius Murray will get a crack at getting the running game going, a week after Oakland had 25 yards on 12 carries in a loss to the Jets.

"Last week we wanted to see Maurice Jones-Drew in a full-time role," Olson said. "This week, I don't know if we'll see that. We'll start with Darren, and it probably will be more series-wise with Latavius and Darren."

Murray is a player that the fantasy community is excited about, but he has been unable to crack the rotation after a lot of early career hype. He's worth a stash in larger formats. As for Week 2, it sounds as if McFadden will get the start, but that the two backs will rotate series by series. The Redskins had a lot of success running on the Texans in Week 1, but the Raiders don't have that type of running game. Neither player is an attractive start at this point, though either player could be started in desperation.