Oakland Raiders get UDFA steal in WR Keelan Doss

The Oakland Raiders may have gotten themselves a steal in undrafted free agent wide receiver Keelan Doss out of UC Davis.

The Oakland Raiders may have had to trade two star players to get three first-round picks and all the control of the 2019 NFL Draft they could have asked for, but they came away with a very nice haul and hopefully have set the foundation for the future.

General Manager Mike Mayock executed the draft with patience, a perfect yin to Jon Gruden’s yang.

Mayock and Gruden have been at work all offseason tinkering with a roster that was unquestionably decimated as of last year. They have made seemingly countless free agent acquisitions and now they’ve added a draft class along with a large undrafted class.

Among the most talented players from their undrafted pool is former UC Davis wide receiver Keelan Doss, a 6-foot-2, 211-pound player who dominated at the FCS level this past season.

Davis is playing in a position group that looks absolutely loaded for the Raiders right now with Antonio Brown, Tyrell Williams, Ryan Grant, JJ Nelson, Marcell Ateman, and 2019 draft choice Hunter Renfrow, but that doesn’t mean he can’t make the roster.

The Raiders coached Doss at the Senior Bowl in 2019. By all accounts, it wasn’t on-field ability that kept Doss from being selected, but injuries piling up especially injuries that kept him from full workouts before the draft.

When the ball is in the air, forget about it — this guy’s coming down with it. He’s got very strong ands and is pretty exceptional after the catch as well.

Doss doesn’t have speed to blow the top off of a defense, but he runs solid routes and catches the ball away from his body as often as possible.

For a year, at least (assuming he earns a roster spot), Doss will get to go to work about five minutes from where he grew up.

Doss would have been a good fifth-round pick for some team, but the Raiders managed to get him  for virtually nothing. There were teams lined up to sign him after the draft, but the opportunity to be close to home along with the relational equity Doss had from the 2019 Senior Bowl were contributing factors to his choosing Oakland despite their loaded WR situation.

I think this kid is going to have a great chance at being a steal from the 2019 NFL rookie class, especially among undrafted players.