The Las Vegas Raiders selected Henry Ruggs with the No. 12 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and Derek Carr appears to approve the decision. Nearly a week after the Raiders drafted him, Carr shared his opinion on Las Vegas' selection of Ruggs.
Carr watched every college play of the top 3 WRs in draft: @__RUGGS was “always the most explosive, fastest guy on the field.”
“Most people hear 4.2 speed and they’re like, oh he is a track guy … (but) he’s super tough. You could tell that he loves contact.”— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) May 1, 2020
When the Raiders were on the clock with the No. 12 pick, they had a choice between Ruggs, Jerry Jeudy, or CeeDee Lamb. Rather than taking Jeudy or Lamb — the consensus top two receivers — Las Vegas elected to go with the fastest of the bunch.
Carr, who's entering his seventh season with the Raiders, studied the top three wide receivers in the 2020 NFL Draft. Similar to the Raiders, Carr apparently believed that Ruggs was the ideal choice for Las Vegas in the first round.
In his final season at Alabama, Ruggs contributed 40 receptions for 746 yards and seven touchdowns. Of the coveted wide receiver prospects, Ruggs was considered to be the speedster. But as Carr pointed out, Ruggs is more than just a speedy wide receiver in an offense.
While he is fast and can stretch the field vertically, Ruggs is also a very capable route runner. In addition, he isn't afraid to get physical with defenders despite being a smaller-bodied wide receiver.
Besides Ruggs, the Raiders also selected Lynn Bowden and Bryan Edwards to surround Carr with more weapons. It's safe to say that the veteran signal-caller is fond of the Las Vegas' plan in this year's draft. With that being said, having Ruggs and the other pass-catchers puts even more pressure on Carr to succeed in 2020.
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