Las Vegas Raiders agreeing with Henry Ruggs III a breath of fresh air
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders have reportedly agreed to a deal with No. 12 overall selection Henry Ruggs III, and the deal is expected to be signed this week.
The Las Vegas Raiders made Alabama wide receiver Henry Ruggs III the No. 12 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, making him the first player selected from his position group. While the team had been tied to the likes of CeeDee Lamb or Ruggs’ teammate, Jerry Jeudy, the organization decided to roll with the fastest wideout in the draft.
Since being drafted, Ruggs has already turned heads in terms of his work ethic, and his workouts with Bryan Edwards have gotten rave reviews. He is expected to come in and sit atop the depth chart at wide receiver as a rookie, and give the Raiders an explosive deep threat to go along with Tyrell Williams, the aforementioned Edwards, and second-year wideout Hunter Renfrow.
With the rookies getting ready to head to camp in a week, it is imperative that the team get their rookies under contract, and that has appeared to have happened.
Ian Rapoport from NFL Network tweeted this out on Tuesday.
The #Raiders have agreed to terms with rookie No. 12 pick WR Henry Ruggs and he’s expected to sign in a few days, source said. His four-year, fully guaranteed deal is worth $16.67M with a fifth-year option.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 21, 2020
The signing of Ruggs with little drama is a stark contrast from the offseason the Raiders had with 2019’s presumed WR1, Antonio Brown. After arriving in a hot air balloon, Brown battled with Raiders management all offseason long, and never actually played a single snap wearing the Silver and Black.
In Ruggs, they get an incredibly talented athlete, who is not only blazing fast, but can also run the entire route tree. At Alabama, he was also a touchdown machine, serving as the ultimate playmaker for Tua Tagovailoa, and hopefully he can make a seamless transition to the pro game.
Next. 2020 Las Vegas Raiders 53-man roster projection entering training camp. dark
Las Vegas did a great job building up the wide receiver position group this offseason, and will now go into the season with solid weapons up and down the depth chart. Getting Ruggs under contract means the Raiders have signed their first draft pick of the 2020 class, and you can expect the rest of the guys to get signed up quickly now.