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At the conclusion of the 2019 season, it was widely believed that the Raiders had one of the best (young) tight end duos in all of the NFL. Darren Waller was coming off a huge breakout season and fourth-round pick Foster Moreau perfectly complement his skill set.
Together, they were two of the best young tight ends in the NFL and both players had the ability to win in the passing game with exceptional athleticism. In the 13 games in which they played together, they caught 93 passes for 1,053 yards and eight touchdowns.
Over the offseason, the Raiders signed future Hall of Fame tight end Jason Witten to work with and backup their two young studs. However, that hasn’t exactly been the case through the first month of the season. While Waller is still getting his fair share of snaps and targets, Moreau is not. In fact, Witten has now played more snaps than Moreau in the first four games of the season.
In Week 4 alone, Witten saw 19 snaps compared to Moreau’s 10. It appears that Witten has overtaken the No. 2 tight end job despite Moreau grading out as a top-10 tight end this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Moreau played a season-high 32 snaps in Week 2. But he’s played a grand total of just 25 snaps over the last two weeks as the team’s third tight end on the depth chart.
Head coach Jon Gruden has always preferred veterans over young players on offense, so this isn’t the least bit surprising. However, Witten is hampering the offense as he has graded out as one of the league’s worst blocking tight ends. Combine that with his lack of athleticism and speed and there just isn’t a lot of upside in playing him over Moreau. It’s also important to note that Witten has yet to record a single yard gained after the catch this season.
The Raiders had a great thing going with Waller and Moreau during the 2019 season. It certainly appears that it would be in their best interest to get the two young, super-athletic tight ends back on the field together. It will be fascinating to see how much longer Gruden sticks with the aging veteran over the up-and-coming prospect.
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