Getty Las Vegas Raiders GM Dave Zielger.
The Las Vegas Raiders have decided to retain wide receiver Hunter Renfrow this offseason. However, there still remains a possibility that the team could explore a trade of the former Pro Bowler, according to Bleacher Report.
Alex Ballentine pitched a trade that would send Renfrow to the Atlanta Falcons for a 2024 fourth-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick.
“Renfrow did not have a good season in Josh McDaniels’ first year at the helm,” Ballentine wrote in a July 29 column. “He went from 103 receptions for 1,038 yards in 2021 to 36 receptions for 330 yards in 10 games.
“It’s hard to picture a role for Renfrow in the Raiders offense, but not so hard to see him manning the slot in an offense with Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Mack Hollins threatening vertically.
“That what would potentially tempt the Falcons into parting with some picks for Renfrow.”
Tashan Reed of The Athletic reported back on July 19 that the Raiders haven’t received any offers for Renfrow and haven’t been actively shopping him. This season, he’s starting the two-year, $32 million contract extension the team gave him last offseason so that’ll make it more difficult to trade him coming off of a down season where he had a career-low in catches (36) and receiving yards (330).
Hunter Renfrow Having Strong Training Camp
There may be no desire to trade Hunter Renfrow by the Raiders in the future if he has a bounce-back year in 2023. Based on multiple reports out of training camp, Renfrow has been lighting up the practice field. Raiders.com’s Levi Edwards has praised the wide receiver’s routes in one-on-one drills.
Hunter Renfrow is running some of the nastiest routes I’ve seen in a minute in these 1-on-1’s.
Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal pointed out Renfrow as one of the Raiders who is having a very good training camp.
“Renfrow has been a highlight at camp thus far, including 10 catches Saturday,” Bonsignore wrote in a July 29 column. “He is already showing he can find his niche in this offense.”
Renfrow is stepping up in practice. Having him return to Pro Bowl form would give the Raiders an excellent wide receiver trio of Renfrow, Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers.
Hunter Renfrow Going to Back to the Basics
As noted previously, Hunter Renfrow had a rough 2022 season. This came after a 2021 season where he finished with the third most receptions in a single season (103) in franchise history and was named to the Pro Bowl. Injuries kept him out of seven games last season and he could never get into a rhythm. Heading into 2023, Renfrow is just trying to simplify things and take things slow.
“I went back home and just got back to the fundamentals, back to the basics, back to why you love the game. The biggest thing for me that I learned through all of it was just to control what I can control,” Renfrow said during his July 28 media availability.
“And just to go out there and have a great day and have a great practice and take it one day at a time, one rep at a time, one route at a time and have that kind of singular mindset. And then let everything else take care of what’s going to happen next. And so, that’s really what I’ve taken from that.”