For years, Bob McGinn has been known for his series in which he collects quotes from unnamed scouts on players in the upcoming draft. These days he’s writing for The Athletic.
Raiders’ top pick at No. 12 overall was former Alabama receiver Henry Ruggs III. While McGinn has him as the third-best receiver in the draft, the Raiders made him the first receiver taken.
What one scout said about Henry Ruggs III would make Raiders fans feel pretty good about the selection.
“He has a chance to be special because he’s got the rare trait of speed. But he’s not a one-trick pony. He’s not Ted Ginn, he’s not Darrius Heyward-Bey. He’s not just an outside-the-numbers guy. He’s super athletic (vertical jump of 42), he can run every route. He’s extremely tough. When you talk to the people in Tuscaloosa, he’s the most competitive kid in the program. You want to draft playmakers, and he’s got a chance to be a great playmaker. He’s a significantly better player coming out than Tyreek Hill was.”
A second scout was less certain of Ruggs’s skillset, seeing him with some boom or bust potential.
“Does that guy turn into Brandin Cooks or Ted Ginn? Often, when teams try to make (speedsters) into more than they are, they struggle. He may turn into more than that. We’ll see. I don’t see Tyreek Hill.”
A third scout thought even less of Ruggs, discounting him as the Raiders’ answer to their need for a big-time playmaking number one receiver:
“If you expect him to come in and be your No. 1 receiver I don’t see that. He was really a specialist in their offense where they designed certain plays for him … He is fast, but when people get on him you don’t see the same speed and route running. When he gets the ball, if he has a clear path, he can go. But he’s not a make-you-miss player. I don’t think he’s timid (in traffic). But he’s not a playmaker on the ball so when bodies are around him he doesn’t catch the ball. He’s a space-vertical linear route runner that needs space to catch the ball.”
The opinions range a bit, which is to be expected. Probably why there wasn’t a true consensus as to who was the top receiver in this class between Ruggs, teammates Jerry Jeudy, and Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb. But most rankings I saw had some combination of those three atop a deep receiver class.
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