Las Vegas Raiders: Top-5 2021 offseason additions

Las Vegas Raiders: Top-5 2021 offseason additions

4. John Brown – Wide Receiver

The Raiders have made it a habit recently of signing veteran wide receivers and allowing them to rejuvenate their careers. They did so with Michael Crabtree a few years ago and did so recently with Nelson Agholor in 2020. Agholor is the better example because he was coming off a down year with Philadelphia and the Raiders were able to secure his services 4 close to the veteran minimum.

Agholor went on to have a fantastic year with the Raiders and earned himself a two-year deal worth up to $24 million with the New England Patriots. The Raiders were not willing to pony up that kind of cash and instead have brought in veteran John Brown on a one-year $3.5 million deal.

Brown is coming off a difficult year with the Buffalo Bills where he only started eight games but still put up respectable numbers with close to 500 yards and three touchdowns. Brown has been a productive receiver over his career and has two 1000-yard seasons under his belt in 2015 with Arizona and 2019 with Buffalo.

He brings that same element of speed and the ability to take the top off the defense and his presence should take some of the pressure off the Raiders’ young receivers.

The veteran receiver is a smooth route runner and has reliable hands which should make quarterback Derek Carr very happy. The Raiders still don’t have a true number receiver but that honor is up for grabs for Brown or either of the Raiders’ second-year receivers to fight for. His addition takes the Raiders’ receiving group from a big unknown to a potential strength of the team. If he is back to his form from 2019 or even 2018 then the Raider offense will be even harder to stop in 2021 than it was last season.