Henry Ruggs Gone Offers Hunter Renfrow A Chance In Expanded Role
Coming off the bye week was not a good time for the Las Vegas Raiders. Henry Ruggs III was involved in an accident where he was intoxicated and it killed a person. The Raiders rightfully released Ruggs just a day later.
Ruggs is the Raiders leading receiver with 469 yards on the season and has a pair of touchdowns. In his second year in the NFL he is sort of seeing a breakout year. The speedster has been good.
With a vacant spot now on the offense and the trade deadline past, the Raiders have a hole at wide receiver. There is still Darren Walker who is a great tight end, but the team is going to need a receiver to step up.
Hunter Renfrow is already enjoying a solid year. Renfrow is averaging 57 yards a game and is on track to have his best year as a pro. The former Tiger is on track for a near 1,000 yard season and likely will hit that mark with the vacant spot left by Ruggs.
Renfrow isn’t a player that is going to beat you with speed or take the top off the defense like Ruggs did. Instead he is going to win by running crisp routes, settling in against zone defenses and being a sure hand. The third-year wideout has just two drops on the season and a 74.5% catch rate. When Derek Carr is targeting Renfrow he is catching it 3-of-4 times, which is good.
This really is not the place the Raiders wanted to be in or Renfrow probably. An insane incident is giving Renfrow a chance to step up and take on a larger role for the Raiders, though it is something no body envisioned. It is likely we will see Renfrow’s state go up across the board, at least his targets. Carr is going to look his way because he’s a player he has grown comfortable with and there is some chemistry there.
With Ruggs gone the offense likely can’t stretch the field as they once did. This will bode well for a player like Renfrow who thrives in the short to intermediate passing game. It will be interesting to see if Renfrow can take this next step with the team needing a guy to step up.
