Tag: Raiders wide receivers

Raiders wide receiver corps showing more than strength at the top, but depth as well

Raiders WRs go well beyond the talent at the top. It’s plenty deep too

With the addition of Davante Adams to join Hunter Renfrow with the Raiders, they instantly had one of the best wide receiver duos in football. The third wide receiver spot is up for grabs, but increasingly that’s not looking like a weakness, but a potential strength.

One receiver who has gotten some positive mention early in camp is Mack Hollins. Josh Jacobs lauded his work ethic and intelligence, calling him “an amazing dude” while Darren Waller who called him “probably one of the top five funniest guys I’ve ever met in my life.”

You can add Davante Adams to that list.

“You can put Mack Hollins in to run a stop post,” said Adams. “He’s a bigger guy, but he can go down there and take the top off as well.”

Hollins himself isn’t buying too much into the hype around him. He sees opportunities for several receivers on the squad to see snaps.

“As I’ve learned more in this offense, I’ve learned there’s more opportunity than just Hunter and Darren [Waller] and Tay,” said Hollins. “So, that’s what’s so great about going out there. We have such a good room. Our receiver room is really competitive, like nobody has an easy, I guess the third receiver role, or third or fourth, like nobody has that shooed in, so everyday we come out and compete and try to give our best and see who can earn it.”

Another receiver who has gotten some mention has been Tyron Johnson, nicknamed T-Billy by his teammates.

“T Billy, yeah. He’s a workhorse, man,” said Adams. “He’s been running a lot of deep routes and he’s not complaining about it. He’s doing everything he can to establish himself in this offense and show the coaches what he can do. He’s already proved a lot to me.”

What’s funny about this is neither Mack Hollins nor Tyron Johnson have been viewed up to this point as the most likely to line up on the outside opposite Adams. Prior to the start of camp, the leading competitors for that role seemed to be Demarcus Robinson and Keelan Cole.

And it may ultimately end up being Robinson or Cole being named the starter and getting the bulk of the snaps. But it’s clear that there are many suitors, and even those who don’t start will be contributors.

From the outset, this group looks like it has a lot of talent top to bottom with good competition and depth throughout.

Davante Adams was big addition but Raiders receiving corps still missing crucial dynamic

Raiders receiving corps was upgraded significantly with addition of Davante Adams. But a key element is still missing.

When doing some research recently, I noticed something about how outsiders view the status of each of the Raiders’ positions. That is the the wide receiver position is all set. One can assume that the trade to acquire Davante Adams had many people cross wide receiver off and dust their hands.

The problem with that simplistic take, is it ignores the fact that the Raiders weren’t just one wide receiver short last season. They were two wide receivers short.

Adams gives them a caliber of receiver they have not had in a great long while. Perhaps not since the likes of Tim Brown and Jerry Rice lined up on each side. Pair him with Hunter Renfrow, and you’ve got something special brewing.

The problem here is offenses deploy three receivers these days. Adams is an X receiver. Renfrow is a slot receiver. What’s missing is a Z. Or, in simpler terms; speed.

They’re missing what Henry Ruggs III was starting to bring to the offense early last season before the tragic incidents that led to his release. They’re missing someone whose speed as a downfield threat must be respected and who can take the proverbial top off the defense.

The team added Demarcus Robinson this offseason, but he’s basically a possession receiver. He isn’t striking fear into any defenses.

There’s also Bryan Edwards, but he too is a big-body X-type receiver, who makes his hay as a red zone, jump-ball specialist.

Can they get by with a starting trio of Adams, Robinson, and Renfrow? Probably. Especially when you factor in tight end Darren Waller as a receiving threat. But there’s a reason the different roles exist in an offense. And it’s important to have someone to fill each of those roles.

That doesn’t mean everyone has to be a superstar. It just means in order to open up the playbook, take pressure off of Adams, and avoid constant double teams on him, defenses have to fear someone else hurting them even worse, respect that, and thus fully account for them.

Those kinds of guys don’t grow on trees, there’s no question about that. There’s also no question the Raiders receiving corps is head-and-shoulders stronger than it was at the end of last season. But let’s pump the breaks on this belief that all boxes are checked in the Raiders’ wide receiver corps. Especially when that one unchecked box is a pretty important one.

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Absent last year’s distractions, Raiders WR Tyrell Williams ready to create an identity with rookie class

Tyrell Williams is entering his second year on the Raiders, and he foresees a more focused WR room without 2019’s distractions.

Though last year was Tyrell Williams’ first as a Raiders wide receiver, he feels 2020 will be a fresh start, and not simply because the franchise has moved to Las Vegas.

Williams has his own reasons to believe so. First of all, the Raiders are set to welcome a bevy of wideouts, including their No. 1 draft pick, Henry Ruggs III, and third-round selection, Bryan Edwards.

The Raiders also acquired free agent WR Nelson Agholor and drafted “Joker” Lynn Bowden Jr., one spot ahead of Edwards.

Another reason is an absence of distractions at the position, which the team had an excess of in 2019 with the shenanigans of former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown. Williams told The Athletic’s Vic Tafur about his optimism after Tafur asked about new blood in the receiving corps.

“I’m excited, man. Adding speed and athleticism and that is going to push the guys we have coming back, it’s going to push us all. You add two draft picks, shoot, the other guys are going to think that their spots are being taken. And not only will it bring up so much competition, but it’s going to help us have an identity.

Last year, we obviously had so much distraction that we never got to have an identity as a receiver room. But this year, we’re going to be able to dial in and make it known who we want to be as a group.”

The influx of talent and the absence of distraction at WR is a major reason to be excited about the Raiders’ chances in 2020. After Brown’s explosive exit just before the 2019 campaign, the group was a mere fraction of what coach Jon Gruden had in mind.

There were injuries as well, with Williams suffering from plantar fasciitis in both feet for most of the season and WR Hunter Renfrow suffering a rib injury against the Jets. Still, quarterback Derek Carr and the offense churned out yardage at a high rate, finishing No. 9 in the NFL in passing yards.

To paint a picture, Williams and Renfrow were the only wide receivers with more than 40 receptions, with tight end Darren Waller pacing the club with 90 grabs. Carr is about to have plenty more options in Las Vegas.

Ruggs has speed to burn. Edwards is the big-body, goal-line-ready wide receiver Carr has been missing, perhaps since Andre Holmes left the club. Agholor is a former first-round pick with solid NFL production, and Bowden is poised to loosen the defense from any angle.

And they’ll all be in the WR room learning how to attack the defense as a unit, without the petty distractions Brown provided a year ago. There’s such a thing as addition by subtraction. The Raiders not only did that, but they also added an array of impressive talent. It appears Williams can’t wait to get started.

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