2020 NFL Draft: Las Vegas Raiders surprise with Henry Ruggs at No. 12

Surprising most by taking Alabama’s Henry Ruggs III over competing prospects CeeDee Lamb and Jerry Jeudy. How does he fit into the Las Vegas Raiders offense?

Seeing a need to complete their offense around the run game of Josh Jacobs, Jon Gruden sees that he can bring a Las Vegas flash to this offense with the burner speed of Alabama’s Henry Ruggs III. Taken over CeeDee Lamb and Jerry Jeudy, Ruggs has a unique skill set reminiscent of division rival receiver Tyreek Hill. Explosiveness is the trend of the NFL after the Chiefs super bowl season and will continue to be until another revolutionary player dethrones Patrick Maholmes.

The Las Vegas Raiders operate their entire offense through the legs of Josh Jacobs and survives by a consistent run and short passing game that can keep drives alive. Ruggs can fit in well alongside Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller to make sure the chains keep moving, but can also present a vertical threat to stretch out safeties and produce chunk gains on play-action.

Ruggs may not have the same route tree and proficiency for separation his former teammate Jerry Jeudy does, nor the size mismatch of Lamb, but he can give offensive production to an offense out of a phone booth or over the top of a defense.

Alongside Tyrell Williams, Hunter Renfrow, and Darren Waller, Ruggs no fills the role of a complementing boundary wideout who utilizes speed instead of size. Renfrow will continue to work the middle of the field and find pockets of space for Carr to rely on, but Ruggs will keep safeties scared and blow a drive wide open.

Even though many would prefer wide receivers Lamb or Jeudy, the three receivers all have different skill sets to move this passing offense in different directions, and the choice of Henry Ruggs indicates that Gruden will hop on the train of coaches embracing the run-based play-action offense that was first heavily introduced by the 2019 Los Angeles Rams.