No team in the NFL needed to improve their wide receiver corps more this offseason than the Las Vegas Raiders. The team went through a number of different starting receivers last season, including the likes of J.J Nelson, Zay Jones, Keelan Doss and Trevor Davis.
However, the one receiver that actually had some success was 2019 fifth-round pick, Hunter Renfrow, from Clemson. Despite missing three games due to an injury, Renfrow caught 49 passes for 605 yards and four touchdowns for the Raiders last season. He quickly won the slot job and became one of the team’s most reliable receivers.
But what is the ceiling for Renfrow with the Raiders? Could he become one of the best slot receivers in football? In a recent piece by Kevin Cole of Pro Football Focus, he took a look at all of the rookie receivers from the 2019 draft to see how efficient they were last season. Outside of A.J. Brown in Tennesee, no player averaged more yards per route run than Renfrow last season:
Renfrow proved that he was incredibly efficient last season on limited snaps, averaging over 12 yards per reception and catching nearly 70 percent of his targets. Given his connection with Derek Carr and his reliability, the Raiders would be wise to get him on the field more and have him run 25-35 routes per game.
If Renfrow sees in an increase in routes and snaps this season, it’s not unreasonable to expect him to reach 70 receptions in 2020. In fact, that is the type of pace that he was on for most of last season.
From Weeks 7-17, Renfrow averaged 4.6 receptions per game and 63 receiving yards. If that pace were to continue for a full 16 game schedule, that would equal out to 74 receptions for 1,000 yards. While the yardage might be a tad unrealistic, it’s not hard to see Renfrow becoming a 60-70 catch player in Jon Gruden’s offense.
While the Raiders added a bunch of shiny new toys this offseason to their offense, such as Henry Ruggs, Bryan Edwards and Lynn Bowden Jr, expect Renfrow to continue to be a big part of the offense from the slot. He’s just too good of a player for the Raiders not to target heavily in the passing game.
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