Oakland Raiders almost certainly not having a 1,000-yard receiver in 2017

After Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree went over 1,000 yards receiving in 2016, it is unlikely the Oakland Raiders will have a 1,000-yard receiver in 2017.

2017 has not gone according to plan for the Oakland Raiders. Entering the year, the Silver and Black had Super Bowl aspirations. Now at 4-6 on the year and 2-6 in their last 10 games, this underperforming team has already fired a coordinator and may not make the AFC playoffs.

When the season starts to get away from you, you’ll start to look and see if any personal benchmarks could be met. By throwing for 4,000 yards, rushing for 1,000 on the ground or grabbing 1,000 through the air, you might see a favorite player of yours get to the Pro Bowl.

Last year, the Raiders had its two best receivers each go over 1,000 yards receiving. Amari Cooper had 83 catches for 1,153 yards and five touchdown grabs in his second career Pro Bowl campaign. Michael Crabtree had a great year with 89 receptions for 1,003 yards and eight touchdown catches.

Even though the Raiders added another excellent receiving weapon in tight end Jared Cook, it will be tough sledding for any player in Oakland to go over 1,000 yards receiving. Do any of these three pass catchers stand a chance at a grand?

Cook leads the Raiders with 535 receiving yards, averaging 53.5 per game. He is on pace for 856 receiving yards in his first year in Oakland. Though that would be a career high for him, Cook will have to average 77.5 yards per game to break four figures as a receivable.

While that total is technically doable, it’s unlikely because of the position he plays. Cook has only eclipsed 77.5 yards receiving in a game twice this season. That being said, both of those teams he went for over 100 through the air.

Crabtree is second on the Raiders in receiving with 502 yards, averaging a team best 55.8 yards per game. Keep in mind that he did not play versus the Denver Broncos in Week 4 due to injury. Crabtree is on pace for 837 receiving yards through a 15-game season for him personally.

For Crabtree to get to 1,000 receiving yards for a second straight year, he will need to average 83 yards per game through the air for the rest of the season. Though he hasn’t eclipsed 83 yards per game in a contest, he has hit that total twice already and has had over 80 receiving yards four times.

Basically, Crabtree is only going to hit 1,000 yards if he has a breakout game of well over 100. However with his ability to get 80 yards through the air routinely, he’s probably in the best position to lead the Raiders in receiving this season, somewhere closer to 900 receiving yards.

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Lastly, Cooper has 490 receiving yards in a terrible for him. He went over 1,000 in his first two seasons as a first-round pick out of Alabama in 2015. Cooper is averaging 49.0 yards per game and is on pace for only 784 receiving yards this season. That total would put him nowhere close to being a Pro Bowl level player in 2017.

To hit 1,000 receiving yards for a third year in a row, Cooper would have to average a doable 85 yards per game. While Cooper has 10 career 100-yard receiving games, only one of them have come in 2017. Interestingly, that was 210-yard performance versus the awful Kansas City Chiefs secondary in Week 7.

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If you were to remove that outlier game from Cooper’s season, he would be averaging a pitiful 31.1 yards per game as a receiver in nine games for the 2017 Raiders. Past performances from 2015 and 2016 tell us that Cooper could go over 1,000 yards if he catches fire. However, he is cold as ice in his third year in the league. Unless he burns the Denver Broncos like toast on Sunday, Cooper has almost no chance to go over 1,000 for a third year in a row.

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