Darren McFadden, the first round draft pick of the Oakland Raiders, signed a $60 million contract with the club. The contract spans over six seasons.

This is a very important moment for McFadden because a lot of league experts openly wondered whether the Raiders would be able to sign McFadden. Last season, the Raiders couldn’t agree to a contract with JaMarcus Russell and Russell was forced to holdout into the season. That cost Russell basically his entire rookie year and slowed any development that would have occurred.

Now with McFadden in the fold for the entire training camp, he has a great shot of becoming the team’s starter. As a starter, McFadden’s fantasy football stock would rise immensely. He’d go from a fourth round to a late second to early third round pick. After seeing what Adrian Peterson did last year for the Minnesota Vikings, it’d be hard to overlook McFadden this year.

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With the fourth overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders selected Darren McFadden. McFadden is a running back with superstar level skills and world class athleticism. While many league pundits criticized the Raiders for not taking a defensive player, it’s difficult to argue that McFadden wasn’t the most talented player in the entire draft.

With the Raiders in 2008, McFadden has a chance to be a good fantasy football player. The Raiders were successful running the football last year. If the offensive line can keep performing, McFadden should get plenty of yardage in 2008.

The only question regarding McFadden is regarding the number of carries he will get in his rookie season. The Raiders are actually quite deep at running back, with returning veterans at the position such as Justin Fargas and LaMont Jordan. If McFadden struggles at all, he could lose out on his starting role.

With that in mind, McFadden is going to likely be a high-risk, high-reward pick – much like Adrian Peterson in 2007. While McFadden doesn’t have as high of a ceiling, he’s certainly capable of putting up big numbers. If he outright wins the starting running back job, he could easily finish as a top ten running back in fantasy football.

The Darren McFadden projections I have for him in 2008 are 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. Those numbers could change once it’s known whether or not he’ll be the starting running back. At this point in time, McFadden would be good value in the third or fourth round of a fantasy football draft.

Photo: Newscom