You’ve heard the term ‘keep your head on a swivel’? Usually that refers to players on the field watching out for getting their head taken off by a defender. For Raiders wide receivers in Josh McDaniels’s offense, it means a bit more.
“Everybody’s a threat out there,” said Davante Adams of what excites him about the Raiders offense this year. “It’s not like we’re setting up a play. Obviously, in pretty much every pass play you have the number one read, but you can get the ball from anywhere. You can be a guy that’s setting up another guy, but the coverage dictates that you get the ball. So, it kind of keeps guys’ minds in it and keeps you alive within every route.”
The idea of being a decoy is common in NFL offenses. As helpful to the offense as that can be, most wide receivers would prefer not to go into a play knowing they are not there to be a target from the outset. Adams says that’s not going to happen in this year’s offense.
“I’ve been a part of a few — whether it’s in college or early in my career or whatever it may be — where you got a dummy route, as they say. But there’s really no dummy routes in this offense,” He said. “It keeps every guy alive in the offense because you know you can get it and there’s so many things that marry up and keep the defense honest with each route, so it makes it pretty tough for the defense to know what’s coming.”
Some targets are dictated in the huddle. Others the moment the offense takes to the line by how the defense lines up. Some develop quickly at the snap based on coverage. While others occur based on the quarterback going through his reads.
Then, of course, there are the targets that open up after the play breaks down. You might recall Hunter Renfrow making a couple grabs by breaking open after Derek Carr left the pocket.
It will be up to Carr to know where all his potential targets are at any given time as well as the offensive line’s job to give him time should he need to go through his reads.
The Raiders have solid depth behind the star players like Adams, Renfrow, and Darren Waller, so McDaniels should have the players he needs to get what they want regardless of who is on the field.