Barring a catastrophic injury, the Oakland Raiders will have the most explosive offenses in the NFL. QB Derek Carr is no longer a future franchise QB, he is a franchise QB, now in Year 4. And of course, his favorite WR, Amari Cooper, will make that big jump to Year 3 and become a bigger weapon.
Carr also has ole reliable Michael Crabtree coming back as another one of his outside weapons. And this offseason, the Raiders made their offense even more explosive by adding more speed. WR/KR Cordarrelle Patterson is now a Raider along with TE Jared Cook, who’s freaky fast for his position.
To top it all off, RB Marshawn Lynch, who didn’t play in 2016, is back to play for his hometown team. The Raiders will get full use out of every weapon because they have the best O-line in football. Looking at all that on paper, you don’t think the Raiders’ offense can get much better than that.
But it actually can because there’s a guy that isn’t so glorious on paper that can help. I’m looking for blazing fast 2016 undrafted free agent WR Johnny Holton to be another field stretcher. Running a 4.54 40 at the 2016 NFL Scouting combine may be part of the reason Holton wasn’t drafted.
But that time is not indication of his speed as he pulled his hamstring while running that time. I asked Holton via Twitter what kind of time he would run if healthy and he said, “In the 4.3s. And he was the ninth fastest player in the NFL in 2016 (22.23 mph) according to Next Gen Stats to show it.
Holton made the team by making plays in the preseason and showed a little something late last season. This offseason, he has made plays in minicamp and OTAs to show the progress he’s made. Slot-WR Seth Roberts could end up being the Raiders’ WR-5 as Patterson seems to have passed him already.
Holton is coming!
Just win, baby!
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