Las Vegas Raiders: 5 players set to turn heads at 2021 training camp
Henry Ruggs III – Wide Receiver
We have discussed at length the impact that Henry Ruggs made on the Raiders offense in 2020 despite his struggles but that impact was rarely felt in his stat sheet. Some of his struggles can be chalked up to the COVID impacted offseason and the lack of reps but some can also be due to him not being quite physically and mentally ready for the NFL.
Derek Carr has spoken about Ruggs progressing mentally as a player and said that “something clicked in head” during their offseason workouts. The mental aspect of the NFL game is not spoken about enough especially when it comes to wide receivers but this full offseason should help Ruggs tremendously.
Ruggs has also been hard at work on his body and becoming stronger to stand up to the rigors of the NFL game. He has reportedly gained 12lbs of muscle per his trainer and other Raiders players and coaches have remarked on him looking faster and stronger this offseason.
Similar to Ngakoue, we will get to see this on full display during training camp and preseason as there will be plenty of great battles between Ruggs and whichever teammate has to guard him in drills and scrimmages. The Raiders offense was much better statistically when Ruggs was on the field and after this offseason, we should see the statistical improvement in his box score as well.