Las Vegas Raiders: Potential starters that need to play in the preseason
Henry Ruggs III
Henry Ruggs has yet to participate in any official on-field activities for the Raiders thanks to the unique offseason, but due to his draft position he is penciled in as the starter opposite Tyrell Williams. If he is expected to take on that responsibility then he will absolutely need the preseason to get up to speed.
Rookie WRs generally struggle to adjust to the timing and speed of the NFL, with some notable exceptions, and that is under the ideal circumstances of a full offseason starting with rookie minicamps in April or May. Matching speed should be no trouble for the fastest man at the NFL combine but the intricacies of Jon Gruden’s offense and the timing with QB Derek Carr will take some time.
Derek Carr may not be playing much in the preseason with the Raiders trying to protect their starter but Ruggs can still work with backups Marcus Mariota and Nathan Peterman to learn Gruden’s notoriously complicated offense. The Raiders chose Ruggs in part because of his football smarts and they will be pushed to their limits if he hopes to make an immediate impact after this truncated offseason.