Raiders: Top-3 bargain signings from 2022 free agency

Top-3 Raiders bargain signings of 2022 for Las Vegas

Keelan Cole: 1y, $1.28M

There’s so much to like about this signing.

For one, Cole has speed; Speed the receiving unit in Las Vegas severely lacked, prior to Cole’s arrival. Aside from special teamer Tyron Johnson, Cole is the only receiver on the Raiders’ roster who runs a 40-time faster than the NFL average.

Secondly, Cole is the type of wideout Derek Carr will flourish with. I went into great detail in a piece that explained why Cole may rise to a starting job before the season kicks off (read more here), where I laid out not only why Cole and Carr is a match made in heaven, but why Cole himself is the perfect counterpart to Davante Adams.

There’s too much information to unpack here, but I’ll lay out some of it. Over the last handful of years, Carr has thrown a high number of deep balls (20+ yards through the air). This includes the second-highest total last season, where the quarterback of the Silver and Black led the NFL by a wide margin with Henry Ruggs on the roster.

It isn’t just the number of deep balls Carr throws, either. Throughout the last three-seasons, Carr is listed to have 79.63% of his passed deemed ‘on target’, per Pro Football Reference. On 20+ yarders specifically, Carr jotted a completion percentage of 38.8% last season – The 8th-highest leaguewide.

Against pressure, Carr completed a sky high 50% of these 20+ throws, per NFL Network.

Cole, whose averaged at least 15-yards per catch in 4-of-5 seasons in the NFL, will take on the role Ruggs played last year. The season prior, in 2020, Agholor had a career-year in this role.