The 2020 season for the Raiders is becoming more and more hindsight. Mainly because they didn’t make the playoffs, despite going 6-4 against the tough part of their schedule and then 2-4 the rest of the way.
In Gruden’s third year, with the last picks from the Khalil Mack trade on board, he needed to see those rookies step up for him. How did they do? Let’s see.
Round 1, Pick No. 12: WR Henry Ruggs III
Ruggs was the first wide receiver taken in this draft. Ahead of the likes of CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, and Justin Jefferson — all of whom significantly outperformed Ruggs and his 452 receiving yards. You can include 25th overall pick Brandon Aiyuk, 33rd overall pick Tee Higgins, 34th overall pick Michael Pittman Jr, 42nd overall pick Laviska Shenault, and 49th overall pick Chase Claypool. The only WR in the top 50 with fewer TD’s than Ruggs’s two was Pittman (1).
Ruggs’s issues seemed to be about getting open and gaining separation, which is incredibly important for him considering he was drafted to be the team’s deep threat receiver.
Grade: C-
Round 1, Pick No. 19: CB Damon Arnette
Arnette was named the starter out of camp. Three games into the season, he suffered a thumb injury and was placed on IR. He returned week ten, started three games, but was concussed early in the final two of those starts, causing him to miss two games. He also landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, returning to play the final two games.
His six full games were rough too, routinely getting beaten for big plays, including the one that cost them wins against the Chiefs in week 11 and the Dolphins in week 16. He had just two pass breakups and no interceptions on the season.
Grade: D
Round 3, Pick No. 80: RB Lynn Bowden Jr
Bowden had difficulty transitioning to running back from college wide receiver and quarterback. So, the Raiders just took a loss and traded him for scraps. Mike Mayock insisted it had nothing to do with Bowden’s character, so then they simply made a bad pick apparently. The Dolphins switched Bowden to wide receiver and gadget player. He ended up catching 28 passes and started a few games when their receiving corps was decimated by injuries.
Grade: F
Round 3, Pick No. 81: WR Bryan Edwards
No one got more training camp hype than Edwards. He and Ruggs would start the first three games. But Edwards would catch just five passes for 99 yards in those games. Which somehow was more yards than he had the rest of the season (94). For all the hype, he finished with 11 catches for 193 yards and one touchdown in the season finale, after the Raiders were out of the playoffs.
Grade: C-
Round 3, Pick No. 100: LB Tanner Muse
This pick was puzzling from the moment they made it. I mean, except for the Clemson thing, considering Gruden and Mayock’s fascination with Clemson players. Muse was touted as a special teams player initially, which makes him an ever more questionable pick in the third round. Then he got injured and was stashed on injured reserve all season. Sounds like optimistically he was viewed as a project. Again, odd to be making project picks in the third round on a team that had plenty of immediate needs.
Grade: D-
Round 4, Pick No. 109: G John Simpson
Simpson was actually the player I pegged them taking with their previous pick in the third round, so getting him at this pick made sense, even without him being another Clemson guy. He appeared in seven games as a rookie, starting two. He clearly had some issues to work out, causing him to get tossed around a bit., but overall he wasn’t a glaring liability.
Grade: C+
Round 4, Pick No. 139: CB Amik Robertson
Many people thought the Raiders may have gotten a sneaky steal with Robertson late in the fourth. Time will tell if that analysis is correct, but as a rookie, we didn’t see any of that. He barely saw the field, even as the Raiders were often in need of injury replacements. Robertson was inactive as many games as he appeared in and saw just 33 defensive snaps all season.
Grade: D
Class assessment:
No one expects a rookie class to carry a team. What they do hope, however, is to get some meaningful production out of them. What the Raiders needed was someone to step up during their stretch run. They didn’t get any of that.
They traded away Bowden who was helping the Dolphins through their injury issues, but still had rookie wideouts Ruggs and Edwards and neither were making a significant difference. That goes for their three defensive picks as well on one of the league’s worst defenses.
