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Drops by WRs of the Oakland Raiders Continues to be a Problem

By Nick Hjeltness

Sep 1, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders wide receiver Seth Roberts (10) catches the ball during warm ups before the game Seattle Seahawks at Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 1, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders wide receiver Seth Roberts (10) catches the ball during warm ups before the game Seattle Seahawks at Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dropped passes by the pass catchers of the Oakland Raiders has been a major problem.

Drops isn’t a official stat, and depending on which publication the information comes from, could have significantly different numbers. That’s because drops is something that is completely subjective — what one person considers a drop, another person could consider a good play by the DB, or an errant throw by the QB that shouldn’t count against the WR, etc.

But no matter the publication that tracks drops, they all agree that the Raiders pass catchers are amongst the worst in the NFL.

This is following the Chiefs game, showing the Raiders as having 32 drops on the season.

Prior to the game in Kansas City, Pro Football Focus had this:

So PFF had the Raiders with 31 drops going into Thursday night, and the Raiders surely added to that total. I’ve seen football analysts say there were as little as 4 and as many as 10 drops by Oakland pass catchers — see, completely subjective.

One other publication that tracks drops, Sporting Charts, had the Raiders with 25 drops heading into Week 14, the most in the NFL.

But the point is, it’s an absolute problem for this team. Even from Michael Crabtree, who is having an uncharacteristically bad year in this regard.

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Seth Roberts has had a particularly bad year with drops, and any publication that lists him having 8 or 9 drops feels low. He has 2 or 3 every game.

And for the Raiders, what makes these drops even worse is the timing of them. Against Buffalo, both Crabtree and Seth dropped passes in the end zone.

There have been other drops in similar situations, there have been drops that would have picked up big conversions on 3rd down. You name the situation, and it’s probably that a Raiders wideout has dropped a pass in that situation.

Amari Cooper, who led the NFL in drops in his rookie season, has had only 2 or 3 this year by most accounts. And Latavius Murray, who has struggled with drops for most of his career, only has 1 or 2 by count of most publications.

So the normally sure-handed have struggled, and the players who have had a problem with drops in the past are no longer part of the problem — or a very small part of the problem, at least.

Pass catchers take pride in not dropping balls, so I’m sure each and every guy is putting in extra work on the jugs machine, but hopefully this can get cleaned up sooner than later, before it really costs the team.

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