Old vet clearly has the best career, but have one of the young up and comers taken over?
We’ve been diving into how the Las Vegas Raiders’ roster stacks up against the rest of the AFC West with some downtime during the summer, and the quarterback and running back rankings weren’t too kind to the Silver and Black. However, wide receiver is a different story as the Raiders have arguably the best corps in the division.
1. Davante Adams
Last season, Adams had a down year for his standards with 103 catches for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns. However, to quote his old teammate Aaron Rodgers, “Down years for [Adams] are career years for other [wide receivers]!” For example, the three-time first-team All-Pro still ranked second or tied for second in every major statistical category at the position in the AFC West last year while playing with three different quarterbacks. He might be getting up there in age, but he’s still a top receiver in the league.
2. Courtland Sutton
Sutton posted a career-high 10 touchdowns last season which was the most among AFC West wideouts. He’s consistently been a good contested catch threat for the Denver Broncos, hauling in 57.1 percent of such targets in 2023, via Pro Football Focus. While he’s only cracked the 1,000-yard mark once in his career, Sutton has been a consistent producer with over 700 yards in five out of six seasons. The lone exception came in 2020 when he tore an ACL after one game.
3. Rashee Rice
While wide receiver was a trouble spot for the Kansas Chiefs last year, Rice ended up finishing the campaign strong with 79 catches for 938 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie. He was also an integral part of the team’s Super Bowl run, logging another 26 grabs, 262 yards and one score during the postseason to earn a high ranking after one year. Granted, off-the-field issues have been the story of the SMU product’s offseason, but there’s no denying he’s a talented player between the white lines.
4. Jakobi Meyers
Photo by Ryan Kang/Getty Images
After signing as a free agent, Meyers had a strong introduction to the division in 2023. He ranked fourth among AFC West receivers in receptions and yards with 71 and 807 while tying Adams for the second-most touchdowns (eight). That makes it three years in a row with at least 800 yards and back-to-back seasons with six or more scores for the former Patriot.
5. Joshua Palmer
Somewhat quietly, Palmer has had a couple of strong campaigns for the Los Angeles Chargers. In 2022, he logged 72 grabs for 769 yards and three touchdowns while playing in 16 games, and last year those figures came in at 38, 581 and two in just 10 contests. He’s also coming off a career-high 15.3 yards per catch, nearly five yards better than the previous season. The 2021 third-round pick is expected to become the top target in Los Angeles this fall, so he could be in store for another strong showing.
6. Marquise “Hollywood” Brown
Brown is new to the division after signing with the Chiefs during free agency. He’s had solid production throughout his career with 313 catches for 3,644 yards and 28 touchdowns over five seasons. However, he ranks in the bottom half of this list because the former Cardinal and Raven has seen a dip in production since his 90-catch, 1,000-yard and six-touchdown performance three years ago.
7. Josh Reynolds
Another free-agent addition, Reynolds is coming off a solid season with the Detroit Lions, posting 40 catches for 608 yards and five touchdowns. He’s a versatile wideout who can line up in the slot or out wide and projects to be a decent complement to Sutton in Denver this fall.
8. Marvin Mims Jr.
It was a tough call picking between Tre Tucker and Mims as both are heading into year two and are similar players as deep threats. Ultimately, the latter had more catches (22) and yards (377) in addition to being slightly faster with a 4.38-second 40-yard dash time, 0.02 seconds better than Tucker’s.
9. Tre Tucker
It took a bit for Tucker to get going as a rookie, but he finished the year strong with 19 grabs for 331 yards and two touchdowns. He also showed a tremendous amount of growth as a route runner toward the end of the year which should help him continue to ascend this season. The Cincinnati product could easily climb up this list with a strong campaign.
10. Quentin Johnston
Rounding out this list is another member of the 2023 draft class and the only first-round pick of that bunch. However, Johnston had a very disappointing rookie season as one of the least efficient wideouts in the AFC West, ranking 11th out of 13 qualifying receivers (at least 36 targets) in yards per route run at 0.88, per PFF.
So while he had better overall numbers — 38 catches, 431 yards and two touchdowns — than Mims and Tucker, that can be chalked up to having more opportunities since the Chargers invested more draft capital in the TCU product.