Getty Las Vegas Raiders WR Hunter Renfrow.
Hunter Renfrow is still a member of the Las Vegas Raiders as training camp opens up. The Athletic’s Vic Tafur speculated in a May 19 mailbag that there was a 50% chance the wide receiver would get traded this year but nothing has happened yet.
Anything is possible in regards to a potential trade but it’s sounding like the Raiders want to run it back. Head coach Josh McDaniels had some high praise for Renfrow at the start of training camp.
“Yeah, we just spoke this morning – super excited,” McDaniels said in his July 25 press conference. “Anytime you have a player that battles through a bunch of injuries that Hunter [Renfrow] did last year and the stuff that prevented him from being on the field, you have some extra motivation as a coach to see it through and make sure that he comes back and has the type of season he’s capable of having, which we all know what that is, we’ve seen that before. I know he’s excited. He’s ready to go. He’s healthy, had a good offseason. So again, we can’t predict anything, but I know what Hunter is capable of. I know what he means to our team. I know how excited he is to perform well and try to help us win, and that’s what we’re geared towards too.”
Las Vegas Raiders Haven’t Been Shopping Hunter Renfrow
The Raiders have three wide receivers on multi-year contracts worth more than $30 million with Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers and Hunter Renfrow. Adams isn’t going anywhere and Meyers was signed this offseason so Renfrow has been the obvious odd man out if the team wants to spend less money at wide receiver.
Cutting Renfrow this year isn’t an option as he has an $18.1 million dead cap hit, per Spotrac. It also doesn’t appear that trading him is going to happen, according to a July 19 report from The Athletic’s Tashan Reed.
“The Raiders haven’t been shopping Renfrow and haven’t received any trade offers for him, according to league sources,” Reed wrote. “But their offseason moves make his standing with the team worth examining.”
Renfrow was a Pro Bowler in 2021 but only played in 10 games last season due to injuries. He also only had 36 catches. He doesn’t have much trade value heading into the season.
Hunter Renfrow breaks a tackle and runs 65 yards for his first career TD! @Raiders @renfrowhunter #OAKvsHOU
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Las Vegas Raiders Urged to Retain Hunter Renfrow
The Raiders are going to need a strong offense if they hope to win a lot of games. The team hasn’t fielded a top-15 scoring defense since 2002. Renfrow had a down year but had over 600 receiving yards in each of his first three seasons.
In a July 24 column for Bleacher Report, Kristopher Knox stated the case for why the Raiders should hold onto the wide receiver for a while.
“It would behoove the Raiders to keep all of the talent they’ve accumulated at receiver, including Renfrow, in the fold through training camp and the early portion of the 2023 season,” Knox wrote.
“Las Vegas will always have the option of reevaluating Renfrow’s status closer to the trade deadline. If he can’t click with Garoppolo, doesn’t shine in McDaniels’ offense or gets supplanted by the rookie Tucker, then perhaps it will be time to place him on the trade market.”