The Las Vegas Raiders‘ wide receiver room has been one of the weakest groups on the roster this season. Jakobi Meyers still has the second-most yards of any wide receiver on the team, and he was traded weeks ago.
With that in mind, the Raiders have decided to give a young wide receiver a chance. The team announced on Wednesday that they’ve signed wide receiver Brenden Rice to the practice squad.
Notably, Rice is the son of former Raiders wide receiver and NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. The older Rice played four seasons in Oakland and was part of the last Raiders team to win a playoff game.
His son was a seventh-round pick of the Los Angeles Chargers last year, but has had to bounce around the league. Rice had a brief stint with the Seattle Seahawks, but was cut on Tuesday.
The wide receiver had a solid two-year stint with USC in college, which is likely why he’d be on Pete Carroll’s radar. Rice has yet to make a catch at the NFL level, but with the Raiders struggling on offense, he could finally get a chance to play real snaps. Rice is a big target at 6-foot-3, so he’ll bring some size to the wide receiver room.
Raiders Need Young WRs to Step Up
The Raiders’ wide receiver room is very young outside of Tyler Lockett, who was added in the middle of the season. Tre Tucker has emerged as the team’s WR1, but he’s more of a downfield threat than an every-down pass catcher.
Tight end Brock Bowers is the No. 1 receiver, but the Raiders need a more consistent option out wide. The team used two draft picks on Jack Bech and Dont’e Thornton in the offseason. The two have combined for 18 catches.
One of those two needs to start making more consistent plays. Bech was a second-round pick, so he should have a far bigger role at this point in the season.
Thornton is 6-foot-5 and runs a 4.30 40-yard dash. He should be a matchup nightmare for any cornerback. Unfortunately, he struggles catching the ball and running clean routes. Both guys have potential, but they haven’t shown much to be excited about this season.
Bowers Frustrated With Losing
Bowers is as good a receiving weapon as any team has in the NFL. However, his talents have been wasted in the first two years of his career due to poor play from the team.
During the Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Bowers got two touchdown passes, but it didn’t matter. The star tight end clearly isn’t happy with how the team is playing right now.
“It’s not fun,” Bowers said after the loss. “We come here to win games, and that hasn’t been the case.
“We just have to stay away from big negative plays like penalties, sacks and all of that stuff. If we stay on track, I feel like we’re a pretty good offense. We just have to stay on track with those third and manageables and keep driving.”
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