The Time is Now For Raiders' Young WRs to Make a Mark

The Las Vegas Raiders' younger players in the wide receiver room will not have a better chance than now to make a name for themselves at this point in training camp.

With star receiver Davante Adams missing practice for at least a few days, these young receivers looking to earn some minutes this season -- or even a chance to make the roster -- will need to use this time to their advantage.

Adams went down due to a leg injury in Friday's joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers, while former Pro Bowler Hunter Renfrow had the day off.

That, of course, opened the door for the prospects to get some valuable reps.

"I mean, that's actually a really big part of camp in my opinion," first-year Raiders wide receiver Jakobi Meyers said when he addressed the media after Friday's practice. "For a guy who was undrafted kind of waiting on his moment, these are the days you kind of -- you don't want anybody to get hurt, but when somebody does go down, then it's your moment. You've got to step up and go out there and show coach what you can do with that new opportunity.

"So, I mean, I'm proud of the guys because a lot of them were out there with no break, going straight through, pushing hard. So, a lot of people showed what they were made of today, and hopefully they can just keep building on that day by day."

A number of receivers had solid performances in Sunday's 34-7 win over the 49ers, including rookie Tre Tucker (a 15-yard reception) and veteran wide receiver Keelan Cole Sr. (29 yards and a touchdown).

"They all had opportunities, and each guy did his job, generally," Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels said when he spoke to reporters in a virtual press conference on Monday. "They made a few plays with that group. We had a couple of other opportunities that we didn't come up with. I know Aidan [O'Connell] and Tre [Tucker] had that chance down the sideline to make kind of a rather big one. And we were close on that. But they competed hard, they blocked hard -- I thought they blocked decent for some of our edge stuff that we did in the running game, which was good to see. But much to learn from and much to continue to get better at."

The Silver and Black return to preseason action when they play the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 9 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. PDT.

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