Corps players: Wide Receiver

This is the first piece in a series that will look at each position – the additions, subtractions, and pre-training camp depth chart as I see it.

Jumping right in.

The Raiders’ wide receiver corps is perhaps the most improved area of the team. The Raiders top receiving threat going into 2014 was Rod Streater but Streater suffered a foot injury very early in the season, hurting his foot week 3 versus the Patriots. This injury kept him out for the rest of the year.

This injury further depleted an already weak unit, causing rookie QB Derek Carr to rely heavily on James Jones, Andre Holmes and tight end Mychal Rivera. In fact, of the 599 passes thrown by Carr last season, 294 were targeting one of these three players – that’s almost half of the passes thrown (49% to be exact).

2015 looks likely to be very different and, in fact, it may be that neither of these three players is near the top of Raiders receptions by the end of 2015.

James Jones, who was released after the draft, certainly won’t be. Likewise Andre Holmes, who barring a big step up this year is no better than fourth on the Raiders’ WR depth chart going into 2015. Mychal Rivera has the best chance of repeating his success but will be pushed at the tight end position by 3rd round pick Clive Walford.

Taken fourth overall, rookie Amari Cooper will be an opening day starter and I like him as the X receiver, which would put him on the line. He has the skill to beat the press and can run the entire route tree and run it well.

The team should and will move him around so he won’t play the X exclusively but that’s a good role for him and he is the number 1 receiver that the team has lacked since at least Randy Moss a decade ago.

Across from Cooper in a two wide receiver set will likely either be free agent signing Michael Crabtree, who like Cooper is a former Biletnikoff Award winner for the best wide receiver in college, or Rod Streater. At this point, I think the Raiders go with Streater at the Z or Flanker position, which plays to his strengths of speed and his quickness.

In a three wide receiver set, it would make sense for Crabtree to line up outside and for the team to flex either Cooper or Streater to the Y, or slot, position.

All three of these receivers shape up to be better than any of the wide receivers Carr had to throw to for most of 2014 and all three are able to play inside and outside, which will allow the Raiders coaches to be as creative as they choose in finding ways to exploit match-ups and get open.

The team will likely keep only 5 or 6 wide receivers. Cooper is a lock and Streater is likely one, too. Crabtree seems a near-lock to me unless he’s much worse than I anticipate.

Behind these three players are veterans Andre Holmes, Brice Butler, Kenbrell Thompkins and Seth Roberts along with rookies Andre Debose, Josh Harper, Austin Hill, and Austin Willis.

Of those, Andre Holmes seems to have the biggest let up, based on his 2014 production. I think Brice Butler will edge out Kenbrell Thompkins if there isn’t an injury consideration.

The Raiders are also trying to improve their special teams play and so I think that Andre Debose has a good shot at making the team as the sixth wide receiver with an emphasis on being a returner. UDFA Austin Willis should be in the mix as a returner, too.

The Raiders 2015 success rides, in large part, on the success of their young quarterback Carr, who must take steps forward in his development. Toward the end of the 2014 season, he seemed hesitant to anticipate his wide receivers because they struggled to get separation.

Cooper and Crabtree are both known for their ability to create separation through technique and Streater has been good at that, too, in his time with the Raiders. If Carr’s trust in his receivers can be established, this wide receiver corps shapes up to be a strength for the team in 2015 instead of the weakness that it was in 2014.