By Jordan Long
The Oakland Raiders added to their wide receiver core. They already have Antonio Brown and Tyrell Williams who will catch the football from quarterback Derek Carr. Oakland decided to sign another wide receiver, Ryan Grant. The terms of the deal weren’t announced.
Grant brings 5 years of NFL experience to Oakland. Last season was an off year for him. He was in Indianapolis for his one and only year there. Indianapolis was hoping he would be more involved in the offense. Andrew Luck was going to throw his way and Grant was going to take the pressure off of T.Y. Hilton to be the only pass catching wide receiver.
It didn’t happen. Grant appeared in 14 games and battled an ankle injury. He was still productive with 334 receiving yards and 1 touchdown. The Colts thought they saw enough and chose not to re-sign him, allowing Grant to be a free agent.
Grant isn’t a top wide receiver. His numbers are below average with 1,319 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns. He has yet to gain over 1,000 yards in a season. His best year was in 2017 when Grant was with the Washington Redskins. He totaled 573 yards receiving that season.
The best part of his game is he can make plays when he catches the football. Grant forces defenders to miss tackles. Those gains are 1st downs or longer. His average yards per catch is an impressive 11.1 yards. The best part of his game is he protects the football. Grant has yet to have the ball knocked out of his hands for fumbles.
The Raiders are taking a risk with Grant. He is going to try to beat out Tyrell Williams and Seth Roberts to be the #2 wide receiver opposite of Brown. Grant has to prove he can be in training camp and preseason games.
Grant’s problem is his health. He wasn’t 100% healthy last year and it showed at times because he couldn’t breakaway from defenders. If he sustains an injury during the year, this won’t help the Raiders offense. Hopefully the move works out for the Raiders. If not they will be forced to cut him. fff
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