Las Vegas Raiders WR group ranked fourth-worst in the NFL
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders have question marks at wide receiver, and one outlet feels they are the fourth-worst group in the entire NFL.
Looking ahead to the 2021 NFL season, there is a lot to like about this Raiders offense, as they have Pro Bowl players at running back and tight end, and a solid quarterback in Derek Carr. The offensive line was retooled this offseason, as the team traded away three of their starters from a year ago, including anchor Rodney Hudson.
However, when you look at the wide receiver group, there are a lot of question marks, but that is not due to a lack of talent. In fact, if Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards play to their potential in 2021, this group could be one of the better collections of talent at the position group in the AFC.
Starting with those second-year players, the Raiders love their physical attributes, but because of a rough rookie campaign, they went out and got some veterans in Willie Snead and John Brown to help take some of the load off of them. Hunter Renfrow is one of the better slot wideouts in the league, and the hope of the organization is that Zay Jones will develop into a real option on the outside as well.
NFLSpinZone ranks Raiders WR as fourth-worst group
Recently, Randy Gurzi from NFLSpinZone.com ranked all 32 NFL teams in terms of the talent they have at the wide receiver position. For the Raiders, the ranking was not kind, as they came in as the fourth-worst collection unit in all of football.
While the Raiders should definitely be ranked in the bottom half of the league in terms of the wideouts, at least until they prove they can get it done at the NFL level, ranking them at No. 29 is a bit low. Gurzi speaks to this in the piece, saying that the team missed on Ruggs, as Jerry Jeudy and Justin Jefferson had solid rookie campaigns, and as a whole, this is not a group that is going to ‘keep defensive coordinators up at night.’
The truth is, this is a group that has the potential to be very good or one that holds the team back offensively. Losing Agholor was tough, but it will be on the second-year players like Ruggs and Edwards to finally turn this position group from a question mark to a stretch in Year 2.