It’s still too early to tell if Henry Ruggs will have a successful NFL career but the Las Vegas Raiders don’t appear to have any buyer’s remorse just yet. He wasn’t universally considered the top wide receiver in the draft but he was the first one taken anyway. While some did favor Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb, there were plenty of teams that were really high on Ruggs.
In fact, one of the Raiders’ archrivals was considering drafting him had he fell in the draft. According to Peter King of Pro Football Talk, the Kansas City Chiefs were almost going to add even more speed:
The Thursday night opener against Houston is 17 days away. This is why depth at receiver is so vital and why, honestly, the Chiefs were seriously considering drafting Alabama speedster Henry Ruggs in April if he plummeted in round one; instead, he went 12th overall to the Raiders. Gluttonous? Maybe. But for [Andy] Reid and [Brett] Veach, the idea that you can’t have enough speed is not a cliché.
The Chiefs already have one of the fastest wide receivers corps in the NFL. Adding Ruggs would’ve just been ridiculous. However, when you have Patrick Mahomes throwing the ball, adding more speed is probably a good idea. There probably isn’t a secondary in the NFL that would be able to slow down the Chiefs’ passing game if they would’ve been able to add Ruggs.
Ruggs Getting Good Reviews at Training Camp
The fact that the Chiefs liked Ruggs should have the Raiders feeling good about their pick as their rival has done a good job of drafting playmakers. It’s going to be a while before Ruggs actually hits the football field for a game but he’s been getting a lot of hype in training camp.
The first thing that stands out to everybody is his otherworldly speed. While it is impressive, Ruggs has also shown off some very impressive hands. The word is that the Raiders are planning on having him fill in the role that Antonio Brown supposed to last year. That’s probably a bit of an exaggeration as Jon Gruden has been open about the fact that the offense was built around the superstar wide receiver last year. The coach isn’t about to risk that much on a rookie. Regardless, he’s going to have a big role on the offense this season.
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Darren Waller Compares Ruggs to a Roach
No matter what Ruggs does in his career, he’s always going to be known as a speed guy. That’s not a bad thing as some of the best wide receivers in the NFL are speed guys. Raiders tight end Darren Waller knows a thing or two about speed and he had a chance to talk about just how fast Ruggs is.
“He’s fast,” Waller told the media recently. ” I remember one of my friends, we were watching the draft together – or it was the combine – and we saw Henry Ruggs run his 40 and he was like, ‘It was like a roach when you cut the lights on, he just got to skatin,” but it’s as advertised or even crazier in person.”
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Raiders Rival Was Interested in Drafting Henry Ruggs if Available