Should the Raiders draft a cornerback or wide receiver at pick No. 12
By Evan Groat
Making the case for wide receiver
Last season, the wide receiver position was suppose to be a strength of the team. Going into the season the depth chart looked like this: Antonio Brown, Tyrell Williams, Hunter Renfrow, JJ Nelson, and Ryan Grant.
Impressive right? Well, we all know how that worked out.
By season’s end the group was abysmal. Brown was long gone, Williams had dealt with injuries to his feet all season that robbed him of his abilities, trades had been made to bring in the likes of Zay Jones and Trevor Davis just to piece together a group of pass catchers for Derek Carr.
In the end, Carr had to rely heavily on tight end Darren Waller, who put together a career year, and a rookie in Renfrow. While those two are solid building blocks for the future, there’s no arguing a legit number one threat at wideout is needed.
If you want to build a case for using the 12th overall pick on a wide receiver then it all begins with the fact that you feel the offense is one piece away from making a huge jump.
You feel what Jerry Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb, or Henry Ruggs III brings to the table is something that Gruden can not pass up on. Now of course with so many variables involved it’s impossible to say for certain that all three will be available at pick 12, but it’s very likely at least two of the three will be.
These three are seen as the cream of this year’s very deep crop. The player comparisons are ridiculous. Jerry Jeudy, the route running technician from Alabama has drawn comparisons of Odell Beckham and Antonio Brown. CeeDee Lamb a yards after catch monster, is compared to three-time All-Pro DeAndre Hopkins, and Ruggs, the 4.27 speedster reminds many of Tyreek Hill.
One of the other reasons why it is imperative to get a big receiving threat on offense is so coaches can get a true assessment of Derek Carr.
For two seasons we have heard that Carr can’t truly be evaluated because of the lack of weaponry around him. If you want to find out if Carr is the guy going forward get him a go to guy and let’s see what he can do.