To many fans and the entire national media, the biggest black mark on the Las Vegas Raiders' widely celebrated offseason was their failure to address the wide receiver room in a major way. After dealing Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers in consecutive years, the Silver and Black don't have a go-to guy.
Now, a big sector of Raider Nation argued against the idea of adding a veteran like Stefon Diggs or Deebo Samuel on the premise that the team has several promising young pass-catchers that they simply need to develop. And that is still true, whether or not a signing should actually be on the table.
But after two training camp practices, the naysayers about the wideout group in Las Vegas seem to be somewhat vindicated. Reports from Raiders HQ indicate that not only is the unit failing to stand out, but that they have been a net negative at times. This leaves Las Vegas in an undesirable spot.
Las Vegas Raiders WRs making naysayers look right early in training camp
Although Klint Kubiak has a reputation for playing to his players' strengths and getting the most out of them, and John Spytek doesn't want to give up on the investments that he's recently made at the position by bringing in a big fish, the Raiders could be in a bit of trouble, based on some reports.
This is just a sampling of what was said about the wide receiver room after Day 2 of practices in Las Vegas.
"Rough day for the receivers," Silver & Black Sports Network's Jesse Merrick said. "Lots of drops on-air, which is a problem. And not a ton of plays from them, either."
"Overall, there wasn’t a lot of plays from the WR room," ESPN's Ryan McFadden wrote. "Bowers, Mayer and Jeanty received the majority of the targets."
"The wide receiver room has been fairly quiet," McFadden later expanded on in his column. "Jalen Nailor and Brandon Johnson arguably had the best plays out of the group. Nailor made a contested two-handed catch despite Stokes applying tight coverage and Cousins' throw being slightly high. Later, Mendoza rolled to the right before hitting Johnson, who made an impressive kneeling catch near the sideline. But for the most part, plays have been hard to come by for the wide receivers so far. The majority of Cousins' throws have been to [Brock] Bowers or checkdowns."
Nothing is wrong with Bowers being the focal point of the offense, and not standing out at this juncture isn't always a bad thing. Defenses are typically ahead of offenses at this point, but Merrick's report comes as particularly concerning.
With it being made clear after Day 1 that the tight end room is thriving, running backs Ashton Jeanty, Mike Washington Jr. and even Dylan Laube all getting some praise, and quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza both reportedly throwing well, the wide receiver room is the clear anomaly.
Is it time to panic just two days into training camp? Absolutely not. The pads haven't even come on yet, which makes everything just a twinge more difficult to evaluate. Real football is ultimately what matters, and these players have the rest of camp and preseason to change the narrative.
The initial results, however, are a bit disappointing, and in the early going, it appears that the offense is being held back by the group, just as so many predicted. It doesn't seem like Spytek is going to send in a rescue team for this group, so Kubiak must teach them, and they need to learn quickly.
At the end of the day, these are primarily young players, so they do need time to develop, and patience should be had. But if nobody steps up, then not only will the national media have been right all along, but more importantly, it won't be any easier for Kubiak and the Raiders' offense.
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