Photo by Tony Gonzales/raiders.com
There is definitely a hierarchy at the WR position. Make no mistake about it, James Jones, Rod Streater, and Andre Holmes are the top three to make the team. After that it gets a bit muddled. The only WR that really had an impressive day was #85 Seth Roberts. He pretty much caught everything that came at him, no matter who the QB was. #19 Mike Davis had an okay day as well. However, and as I noted before, the rest of the WR’s were not very impressive. The men are separating themselves from the boys in this group.
Denarius Moore really struggled at times, and he would turn his head a lot before he secured the football. Though, Moore took most of his reps with the first team offense as a slot receiver when James Jones or Rod Streater were given a play off. For those of you pulling for D-Mo, I hope he can pull it together and have a better showing in Pre-Season, because the WR position is deep on the roster. There will be some tough cuts made at the end of August.
The TE’s weren’t all that impressive. Mychal Rivera and Nick Kasa were the only two to really separate themselves from the pack, but that’s being nice. On one play, Rivera made LB Justin Cole look like a deer caught in the headlights, which caused an uproar from the crowd. Kasa has increased his body mass by adding a lot of muscle, and he looks like he improved his blocking skills as well. Plus, Kasa has decent hands and good route running abilities. Something he showed when he caught a pass directly in front of LB Nick Roach before turning to the outside and running down the sideline.
Other than that, it was pretty quiet at the TE position. I am decidedly disappointed to report that my guy, Jake Murphy, didn’t take many reps at all. We all know what that can spell in the NFL. He did, however, take reps with the kickoff return team, but I don’t know if that will be enough for him. Oh well, I can’t get my way everytime, LOL.