Las Vegas Raiders drafted Henry Ruggs to replace Antonio Brown

Henry Ruggs is supposed to fill in for Antonio Brown. 

Jon Gruden and the Las Vegas Raiders knew they needed to give Derek Carr more weapons at wide receiver, and they helped out their struggling quarterback by drafting Henry Ruggs III in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft and Bryan Edwards in the third round. Even though Ruggs is a rookie, Gruden is eyeing him for a vital role in Vegas’ offense.

Per Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller, a Raiders source thinks that the former Alabama speed demon, who is scheduled to start in the slot for Vegas, will take over the role vacated by Antonio Brown after the All-Pro’s behavior earned him a one-way ticket out of the NFL.

Henry Ruggs has the explosion to take over AB’s role

Ruggs didn’t touch the ball frequently at Alabama due to the competition at receiver, but he made the most of his touches. Ruggs recorded an even 100 touches from scrimmage at Alabama, and he scored a touchdown on 25 of them. That kind of big-play ability is exceedingly rare, and it’s one of the main reasons Ruggs and his 4.27 40 yard dash went off the board before Jerry Jeudy.

In addition, Ruggs was charged with only three dropped passes in the last two seasons, showing that he is a complete receiver who can be trusted with a heavy workload during his rookie season. Even if his numbers aren’t as gaudy as Brown’s due to his relative lack of experience, the potential to become a serviceable AB clone is certainly reasonable considering the electricity he’ll bring to the Raider offense.

Asking a rookie who was the No. 3 receiver on his college team to step in and immediately produce at the same clip as a guy who might end up in the Hall of Fame might be a bit of a tall order, but Ruggs’ game-breaking speed and sure hands could help him become Carr’s No. 1 target.