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As they like to say, Henry Ruggs III has these things that you can’t teach. In particular, he has speed. Many. He also has very good hands. Make up for two of the three vital aspects of a good NFL receiver.
The third area is running. And so far for half of his rookie campaign, he’s still a work in progress.
“We like the speed factor, it’s something you can’t train. But the course and the consistency we want to see him bring to the game, ”said offensive coordinator Greg Olson this week. “It’s another guy who came out, who just ended up outside here with him working his toes, his toes on the sidelines. So this is the experience for him and the running.
Not dragging or patting his toes has cost Ruggs two big catches in the past two weeks, one for a touchdown. So he’s been giving her some extra emphasis lately.
“It’s definitely improving,” Ruggs said of his run. “I have a lot of things that I can continue to work on. For example, in games I had the two holds that were called out of bounds, so I started working on my own two feet. I’m not in college anymore, but, as a road runner, I just want to be smoother and more consistent, so just work on it day in and day out, in practice, and even after.
Much like his teammate Josh Jacobs, Ruggs was not very present in the attack in Alabama. But that didn’t stop him from being the first player to take his place in the draft either. Then again, the running back and wide catcher are two very different positions, especially in terms of refinement to be able to play to the next level.
“In Alabama, Jeudy was the guy, he’s still the guy,” Olson continued. “I don’t want to talk about development because he (Ruggs) is a great player right now, but his course can improve and we see a very high ceiling in terms of that.
All that “high ceilings” stuff is often thrown away. The translation is that the player has a lot of potential but is far from being a finished product. In this, Olson mentioned former Ruggs teammate Jerry Jeudy, who was taken three places behind Ruggs and is the current Broncos main receiver.
In this case, Jeudy will also take the field in Las Vegas this Sunday in front of Ruggs. The Raiders know what they’re up against and hope they don’t have buyers remorse.
“Jeudy, he’s smooth,” Jon Gruden said. “That’s the best way to define it, it’s really smooth. He knows how to make roads. I would say that is the best way to describe it. You could probably show him the route you want to do once, and he could do it. He really knows how to express himself creatively on the soccer field. I love to watch him play.
Jeudy has 30 catches for 484 yards and two touchdowns this season, which is three times as many catches as Ruggs (10) and more than twice both yards (220) and touchdowns (1).
Those numbers would be a bit closer if Ruggs had made sure to keep his feet on the ground on those two captures. The Raiders were playing the long game when they selected it, but with that there is a risk. Jeudy was much more polite, much less risky, and shows it. If he rips up the Raiders secondary on Sunday and Ruggs doesn’t, there will be plenty of worried Raiders fans. Which means that the time may have come for Ruggs’ road to pick up speed.
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