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The Oakland Raiders have found their temporary replacement for Hunter Renfrow. The team announced that they have promoted wide receiver Rico Gafford from the practice squad. The 23-year old has been on the Raiders’ practice squad since 2018.
Gafford has only played in one game in his career and he was mostly relegated to special teams. He played his college football at Wyoming and went undrafted. He’s a small, speedy wide receiver, who probably won’t see the field on offense for the Week 13 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.
In a corresponding move, the team waived offensive lineman Erik Magnuson. Magnuson was brought in to help fill in for the injured Rodney Hudson and Andre James. He never ended up needing to play in their stead. He only got to play a few snaps against the Detroit Lions and didn’t see the field after.
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Keelan Doss Should Have Expanded Role
Keelan Doss became a very intriguing rookie thanks to how well he played in the preseason and his role on Hard Knocks. However, he hasn’t made much of an impact during the regular season. The Raiders decided to bring him back to the active roster after Antonio Brown was released. In five games played, he has six catches for 79 yards. He has been among the Raiders’ inactives since Week 7’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
Despite falling out favor, Doss should now have a chance to prove himself with Renfrow out. It’s still possible the team keeps him inactive, but it seems very unlikely at this point. The rookie clearly has a lot of work to do before he becomes a legitimate weapon in the NFL. Oakland believes in him. If they didn’t, he wouldn’t be on the roster anymore. The team’s wide receiving corps has been very inconsistent at best. Tyrell Williams and Renfrow are the only two players Derek Carr has really targeted. Maybe Doss can finally give Carr another option.
Where Is Zay Jones?
Since Week 9, Zay Jones has played at least 67% of the Raiders’ offensive snaps in every game. However, the most he’s been targeted in a game is four times and hasn’t accumulated more than 27 yards since joining the team. Either he’s not getting open, or Derek Carr has no interest in throwing him the ball.
Jones was selected as a second-round pick for a reason, but he has yet to prove he was deserving. A change of scenery seemed like it could’ve helped him. That hasn’t been the case so far. It’s becoming abundantly clear that the Raiders have one of the worst wide receiving corps in the NFL. Jones and Trevor Davis have been non-existent. Tyrell Williams has been a disappointment and Renfrow could be done for the year. Luckily, the 2020 NFL Draft is loaded with wide receiver talent. It’s starting to look very likely that the Raiders will use one of their first-round picks on a wide receiver.
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