Raiders: Bryan Edwards out, Henry Ruggs doubtful for Sunday

The Las Vegas Raiders will likely be without both Bryan Edwards and Henry Ruggs on Sunday.

The Las Vegas Raiders are dealing with an unfortunate string of injuries at the wide receiver position at the moment, and they’re likely to be down a pair of promising rookies for this Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.

Both Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards have been dealing with injuries this week and head coach Jon Gruden spoke to reporters on Wednesday to provide updates on their status for Week 4.

And neither update was particularly promising.

Gruden said that Edwards, who injured his ankle in the third quarter of last week’s loss to the New England Patriots, was officially declared out for this week. Meanwhile, Ruggs, who missed last week with a hamstring injury, is considered doubtful for Sunday’s game.

That means the Raiders will likely be without their top two wide receivers (three if you include Tyrell Williams) this week. Not exactly an ideal scenario for an offense that struggled at times last week.

Ruggs and Edwards have impressed Las Vegas’ coaching staff this season with both looking like legitimate building blocks on offense.

In two games, Ruggs has hauled in four catches for 59 yards, although he hasn’t played over 70 percent of offensive snaps in a game.

Edwards, on the other hand, was perhaps the star of training camp and he would have likely taken the starting job away from Williams even if he hadn’t gotten hurt. In three games, Edwards has recorded five catches for 99 yards despite only playing 24 offensive snaps in Week 3.

Who will the Raiders look to replace Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards with?

The Raiders turned to the likes of Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow to carry the offensive load in recent weeks and that will likely have to remain the case. With both Ruggs and Edwards likely out, the Raiders will probably start the veteran duo of Nelson Agholor and Zay Jones on the outside.

Agholor has four catches for 74 yards on the year including a touchdown he scored in Week 1. Meanwhile, Jones has four catches for 47 yards and a touchdown with the majority of his work coming last week against the Patriots.

The only other healthy wide receiver on the active roster is speedy special teamer Rico Gafford meaning that it’s likely the team turns to the practice squad for a temporary promotion. The likes of Keelan Doss and Robert Davis are both candidates with Doss the likely option.

It will be all hands on deck as the Raiders look to avoid their second straight loss to a tough Bills team.