Oakland Raiders: Assessing the probability of a few first-round options
By Kevin Saito
Despite a recent piece here on Golden Gate Sports, taking Ridley tenth overall seems like a stretch. To say the least. It’s admittedly, a little bit outside the box thinking.
However, we know that Gruden is an offensive-minded coach. He likes his offenses to be high-powered and explosive. And with the status of receiver (and Carr security blanket) Michael Crabtree up in the air, if they opt to not retain the veteran, they’ll need to bolster the receiving group and take some pressure off of Cooper.
Seth Roberts and Johnny Holton just aren’t going to cut it by themselves – assuming one or both are even still on the roster.
Pairing Ridley up with Cooper would give the Raiders a lethal one-two punch in the passing game. Both are fast, smooth route runners, are great in open space, have a knack for making people miss, and are a threat to score from anywhere on the field, every time they touch the ball.
Having a tandem like Cooper and Ridley would surely make Carr smile and make opposing defensive coordinators lose a lot of sleep.
It would also give Gruden the type of one-two punch he had with Tim Brown and Jerry Rice the first time he was with the team. Although, a Cooper/Ridley tandem could be even more explosive and electric.
And it would make Oakland’s passing game off the charts dangerous.
It would be a shocking, very outside the box move to make, but with Gruden trying to right the ship and get this team back into playoff contention, nothing should be considered completely off the board.
Probability: Possible, But Probably Not Bloody Likely