Pick #12 is in: WR Henry Ruggs, Alabama

[OG_C2X]

14 minutes ago, jimkelly02 said:

I’m not trying to knock Ruggs by saying he’s a little bit raw at the finer points of being a WR.  He’s got the potential to be a complete WR.  
but in the meantime (next 2 years) we really need Gruden to scheme up plays to get him the ball.  We can’t just stick him out there and say “play within the offense”.  He’s going to need a heavy mix of screens, jet sweeps, slants to get the ball into his hands easily.  
i actually think we’ll see Williams and Waller used to open up coverages for Ruggs early on.  He’s gotta beat people to command the extra coverages.  
I don’t think you can put him out there and in place of Zay Jones and expect great results.  We gotta Get his feet wet with some easy, manufactured catches and runs before we see him have success just running deep.  If I only think your gonna go deep I don’t have to respect the slant or hitch and I’m giving you a Nice sized cushion and bailing out early.

but If you get  few short screens going to the house then CBs have to respect that and it will have a Ruggs blowing by them.

I agree that the rest of the offense will open it up for Ruggs but I vehemently disagree with that my dude. I think Ruggs comes in as a day 1 starter.

I see him having a good year statistically. Games 1-3 will be average and then he will explode for 4 or 5 games in a row before teams start rolling coverages to him. At that point he will open up the offense for everyone else. He will still get his and end the year in OROY discussion. From that point teams step going to have to pick something to beat us and we have to counter it.

Edited April 24, 2020 by OG_C2X

[Geezy]

23 minutes ago, jimkelly02 said:

Nothing personal but this is a huge pet peeve of mine:  some people here think Ruggs is the WR version of Omar from “The Wire” who just strolls thru the hood and The DopeSpot boys just drop their stash out the window because they fear him and to avoid getting killed.  Ruggs isn’t gonna show up day 1 and opponents are rolling coverages his way and saying we’ll make Jacobs, Waller, and Williams  beat us but heck no to Ruggs.  He’s gonna have to earn that respect over time, thus the “opening up of the defense” is going to be a likely 1-2 year gradual process.  He ran a 4.27 thats def fast.  But there’s been a ton of 4.35 guys who went their whole career without teams rolling coverages their way like its alleged Ruggs will get.  Heck even 4.22 Ross has had a few big games but he’s not getting constant doubles like that.  He gets some, but not a crazy amount.... both Ruggs and Ross have to consistently beat teams deep or with their speed before their gonna respect it enough to slide doubles and such his way.  And I order for that level of success it’s gonna take a lot more than just his speed.  He’s going to have to have significant improvement to route running,  release at line, and the finer detailed points of being a Good WR.

its not about the double teams, I didn't even mention him being doubled, because yes, I know hes going to have to earn that respect. BUT, with his speed they will have to play a little deeper, which will give Jacobs and even Waller and Renfrow more room to operate. Also, the run game is going to help Ruggs get deep as well. Im not trying to say itll be all Ruggs opening everything up, but more of how the offense could compliment itself so much. 

A lot of how Hill is so successful is because he has Kelce and that run game to take attention away, its not just his blazing speed that lets him get open. 

 

Ruggs brings a whole new dimension to our offense, one that we tried to fill with trevor Davis and Rico Gafford last season. Its obvious Gruden has a role for this type of player, we just so happened to get a top prospect to fill it. 

[Geezy]

25 minutes ago, massraider said:

If the Raiders had done the same exact picks, there would be screaming on here.  

If my statement and your statement are true, I'm just asking for people to keep an open mind. 

 

exactly

[NYRaider]

5 minutes ago, massraider said:

Ross was also injuries. We never got to see the best of Ross.

Yeah Ross career has been derailed by injuries but he actually looked good last season. He was on pace for 1,000 yards and 6 TD had he not missed half of the season. Interested to see what he can do with Burrow this year if he's healthy. I think the Bengals offense actually might surprise some people this year. If AJ Green is healthy they'll have two 1,000 yard WR's on the outside with him and Boyd plus Ross as a deep threat and Mixon at RB. They still need a TE though.

[Geezy]

soon as Ruggs takes a slant 70 untouched hell command respect, boy gots extra juice in those legs.

 

[NCOUGHMAN]

32 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Hard to be upset when you're coming off of Super Bowl appearance and just added two young studs in the first. 

Didn’t they trade down also?

[Geezy]

Just now, NCOUGHMAN said:

Didn’t they trade down also?

if we traded to 14, Ruggs would've went to SF

[NCOUGHMAN]

Just now, Geezy said:

if we traded to 14, Ruggs would've went to SF

Then we settle for lamb or Jefferson Lol

[Mr Raider]

31 minutes ago, massraider said:

Ross was also injuries. We never got to see the best of Ross.

That's true. I'm not saying that wasn't a factor. But at the time of the draft I felt the Bengals reached largely just because of the speed. I don't feel that way about Ruggs. Does he need to get stronger and better against the press? Absolutely, but he did show the ability to do it. But when I watch him I see incredible hands (like I didn't notice even a few "concentration" drops), routes that a lot of pure speed guys struggle running because of the sheer amount of force and momentum, incredible hops, and the speed makes him such a danger with YAC. He isn't going to run through a crazy amount of tackles, but if you miss one, or one bad angel it can (and did with ridiculous regularity in college) be six. Obviously that crazy amount of TD productivity with a lesser amount of catches won't translate as smoothly to the NFL. But it shows he's a legit threat to take it to the house on EVERY play and EVERY catch. Not just the deep bombs a lot of combine burners get drafted with the idea of implementing into the offense. 

He's more well rounded is all I'm saying. Now that doesn't mean I'm saying he's as polished as Lamb or Jeudy. Just that I can see an offense being super productive with him as the focal point at WR. Not because he gets 100+ catches (though I do see some TY who came in a more polished "speed" guy and also grew to a more complete package that regularly is near the top of the league in receptions) but if you have a dominant RB like I think Jacobs can be, a TE like Waller that's a matchup nightmare, and a dependable slot like Renfrow to move the chains you can have a guy like Ruggs be your most talented WR and have a top tier offense. 

Will it? Who knows. It'll depend on scheme, coaching, and Ruggs work ethic and development (along with injury luck, continued development by Jacobs and company and keeping a solid to great OL). But I see the foundation, I see the idea. Is it how I would have gone? Probably not. But I don't get paid the big bucks. I trust Gruden when it comes to scheming a successful offense (less with in game adjustments and much less with running the whole show himself). Do I think Gruden is the type of coach that can turn Ruggs into a super star? I do. They made a decision on the type of offense they want, they want to dominate in the trenches, have a dominant back capable of chewing clock, churning out first downs and getting in the endzone, and ridiculous speed for chunk plays to balance out the methodical running game. Ruggs is among the fastest guys in all the NFL, Waller is among the fastest TEs as well, Williams would be top half in terms of deep threat ability for number 2/3 wideouts. What will determine our overall success could be if Renfrow (or someone else) can he a reliable short yardage converter in clutch situations, and Waller continuing to grow in his position to do the same thing. And we saw a lot of examples of both guys doing that at points last year. 

It's a game plan that has had a lot of success historically in the NFL. Will it lead us to where we want to go in todays NFL? We'll see. I can at least admire that they're picking a direction and have added a lot of pieces that all fit that direction on both sides of the ball, even if we would have preferred different players. What I can't stand is a front that isn't united with a ton of random pieces mashed together that don't fit. I don't see that here. I'll like the process even more if we're able to land another big bodied, more refined, possession type because even an offense built on a dominant run game and chunk plays in the passing game will inevitably have situations, particularly in the playoffs where teams are too good and too disciplined to give up the chunk plays, and the run game isn't having as much success and you need some clutch catches from guys to move the chain with guys draped all over them. The good news is our offense wasn't the main problem for large parts of last year, the added explosion and hopeful continued development will be huge. And the amount of teams that can take away a top tier back, behind a top 5-10 run and pass blocking OL, a top tier TE, and a crazy amount of speed on the outside, quarterbacked by a guy that is incredibly accurate in the short and intermediate areas of the field and doesn't turn the ball over are fewer and further between and is typically found primarily among playoff teams. And if this plan is good enough to get us in position to play those teams, even if we struggle that'll be another step forward and we'll have the ability to add more pieces to counter it. 

Sorry for the long post. I got a little carried away lol. I love the draft and the more I look at the overall construction of our team the more I really do see the plan they are trying to implement. It'll be fascinating to see how much success it'll have. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Mr Raider

[agarcia34]

Needs to stay with number 11. Looks to clean in the black 

[NYRaider]

1 hour ago, NCOUGHMAN said:

Then we settle for lamb or Jefferson Lol

Had we traded down with Tampa Bay we would've added an extra 4th and likely ended up with CeeDee Lamb. 

[jpaulthe1st]

Hey All. Long time lurker here. 
 

Was exasperated by the pick yesterday (Wanted Jeudy most, then Lamb) but after lots of thought on scheme fit and puzzle pieces, I have to say that I’m liking it more. 
 

But then again it’s pretty been an annual roller coaster of emotions for me dating back to Rickey Dudley. 

[RaidersAreOne]

8 minutes ago, agarcia34 said:

Needs to stay with number 11. Looks to clean in the black 

I've loved the look of #11 on a WR ever since Roy Williams with Detroit. 

[RaidersAreOne]

4 minutes ago, jpaulthe1st said:

Hey All. Long time lurker here. 
 

Was exasperated by the pick yesterday (Wanted Jeudy most, then Lamb) but after lots of thought on scheme fit and puzzle pieces, I have to say that I’m liking it more. 
 

But then again it’s pretty been an annual roller coaster of emotions for me dating back to Rickey Dudley. 

Welcome officially to hell my friend!

[Geezy]

Speed Kills!!!