If you're participating in some kind of mock draft competition, make sure you mock a wide receiver to the Raiders in the first round. They've got two picks in that round, No. 12 and No. 19 (thanks to the Khalil Mack trade), and a pressing need for a wideout. Arguably more so than any other team.
GM Mike Mayock admits as much. "We need to get better at wideout," he said yesterday. Perhaps he was looking at the numbers from the last two seasons -- since they traded Amari Cooper, basically -- when his team was one of only two NFL franchises not to even have a top-50 performer at the position.
That's using fantasy numbers, which Mayock probably isn't analyzing. But of all the wide receivers to start 14 games over the last two seasons, only Oakland and Baltimore haven't had a wide receiver sneak into the top 50 in terms of fantasy points per game. Most teams have had 2 such players. The best wideout currently on Oakland's roster, Tyrell Williams, wasn't even with them for one of those years.
Table shows all wideouts who averaged at least 9 fantasy points while starting 14-plus games the last two seasons. Oakland's best were retired Jordy Nelson and Williams, neither of whom made it into the top 50 such players.
| WIDE RECEIVER FANTASY POINTS PER GAME, 2018-2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yds | TD | PPR |
| Michael Thomas, N.O. | 32 | 8.6 | 97.8 | .56 | 21.7 |
| Antonio Brown, N.E. | 16 | 6.8 | 84.6 | 1.00 | 21.2 |
| Davante Adams, G.B. | 27 | 7.2 | 88.3 | .69 | 20.2 |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Hou. | 31 | 7.1 | 88.3 | .61 | 19.6 |
| Julio Jones, Atl. | 31 | 6.8 | 99.1 | .45 | 19.5 |
| Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 28 | 5.2 | 83.5 | .75 | 18.7 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 29 | 5.3 | 92.4 | .60 | 18.1 |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 24 | 5.6 | 72.0 | .67 | 16.9 |
| Julian Edelman, N.E. | 28 | 6.2 | 70.3 | .46 | 16.6 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 32 | 6.3 | 74.8 | .39 | 16.4 |
| Adam Thielen, Min. | 26 | 5.5 | 68.9 | .63 | 16.3 |
| Stefon Diggs, Min. | 30 | 5.5 | 71.7 | .51 | 16.1 |
| Robert Woods, LAR | 31 | 5.7 | 75.9 | .32 | 16.1 |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | 29 | 4.9 | 73.3 | .57 | 15.7 |
| Odell Beckham, Cle. | 28 | 5.4 | 74.5 | .38 | 15.4 |
| T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 24 | 5.0 | 73.8 | .46 | 15.2 |
| Amari Cooper, Dall. | 31 | 5.0 | 70.8 | .48 | 15.0 |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | 30 | 5.5 | 69.1 | .40 | 14.9 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 28 | 5.5 | 70.6 | .37 | 14.8 |
| Kenny Golladay, Det. | 31 | 4.4 | 72.7 | .52 | 14.7 |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 32 | 4.3 | 63.2 | .57 | 14.3 |
| Jarvis Landry, Cle. | 32 | 5.1 | 67.2 | .35 | 14.3 |
| Allen Robinson, Chi. | 29 | 5.3 | 65.6 | .38 | 14.1 |
| DJ Moore, Car. | 25 | 5.2 | 70.9 | .20 | 14.1 |
| Marvin Jones, Det. | 22 | 4.4 | 58.5 | .64 | 14.1 |
| Calvin Ridley, Atl. | 29 | 4.4 | 58.2 | .60 | 14.0 |
| Terry McLaurin, Was. | 14 | 4.1 | 65.6 | .50 | 13.7 |
| A.J. Brown, Ten. | 16 | 3.3 | 65.7 | .56 | 13.6 |
| Alshon Jeffery, Phil. | 23 | 4.7 | 58.0 | .48 | 13.4 |
| Will Fuller, Hou. | 18 | 4.5 | 65.2 | .39 | 13.4 |
| Emmanuel Sanders, Den.-S.F. | 29 | 4.7 | 59.9 | .39 | 13.3 |
| DJ Chark, Jac. | 18 | 4.4 | 59.1 | .46 | 13.2 |
| Golden Tate, NYG | 26 | 4.7 | 56.6 | .40 | 13.0 |
| Deebo Samuel, S.F. | 15 | 3.8 | 53.5 | .42 | 12.7 |
| DeSean Jackson, Phil. | 15 | 3.3 | 62.2 | .47 | 12.5 |
| Sterling Shepard, NYG | 26 | 4.7 | 55.7 | .29 | 12.5 |
| DK Metcalf, Sea. | 16 | 3.6 | 56.3 | .46 | 12.1 |
| Brandin Cooks, LAR | 30 | 4.1 | 59.6 | .27 | 12.0 |
| Michael Gallup, Dall. | 25 | 3.7 | 61.3 | .33 | 11.8 |
| DeVante Parker, Mia. | 26 | 3.7 | 58.1 | .38 | 11.8 |
| Josh Gordon, 2TM | 15 | 3.8 | 63.5 | .27 | 11.8 |
| John Brown, Buff. | 31 | 3.7 | 57.3 | .38 | 11.7 |
| Christian Kirk, Ariz. | 25 | 4.4 | 52.0 | .25 | 11.7 |
| Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 32 | 4.5 | 48.1 | .33 | 11.4 |
| Diontae Johnson, Pitt. | 14 | 3.9 | 45.6 | .43 | 11.4 |
| Jamison Crowder, NYJ | 25 | 4.3 | 48.8 | .32 | 11.2 |
| Courtland Sutton, Den. | 32 | 3.6 | 56.8 | .31 | 11.2 |
| Mike Williams, LAC | 31 | 3.0 | 53.7 | .43 | 11.0 |
| Dede Westbrook, Jac. | 31 | 4.3 | 44.4 | .31 | 11.0 |
| Curtis Samuel, Car. | 22 | 3.5 | 42.8 | .41 | 11.0 |
| Cole Beasley, Buff. | 31 | 4.3 | 46.8 | .31 | 10.8 |
| Robby Anderson, NYJ | 30 | 3.4 | 51.0 | .38 | 10.8 |
| Sammy Watkins, K.C. | 24 | 3.8 | 49.7 | .26 | 10.7 |
| Marquise Brown, Balt. | 14 | 3.3 | 41.7 | .50 | 10.5 |
| Jordy Nelson, Oak. | 15 | 4.2 | 49.3 | .22 | 10.4 |
| Randall Cobb, Dall. | 24 | 3.9 | 50.5 | .21 | 10.2 |
| Mohamed Sanu, Atl.-N.E. | 30 | 4.1 | 44.8 | .23 | 10.1 |
| Adam Humphries, Ten. | 28 | 4.0 | 42.5 | .25 | 9.8 |
| Taylor Gabriel, Chi. | 25 | 3.8 | 41.6 | .24 | 9.8 |
| Nelson Agholor, Phil. | 27 | 3.8 | 40.7 | .27 | 9.7 |
| Corey Davis, Ten. | 31 | 3.5 | 48.1 | .19 | 9.6 |
| Tyrell Williams, LAC-Oak. | 30 | 2.8 | 43.5 | .37 | 9.4 |
| Demaryius Thomas, NYJ | 26 | 3.7 | 42.7 | .23 | 9.3 |
| Kenny Stills, Hou. | 28 | 2.8 | 39.8 | .39 | 9.1 |
| Phillip Dorsett, N.E. | 18 | 2.9 | 31.7 | .44 | 9.0 |
| Antonio Callaway, Cle. | 15 | 2.9 | 39.1 | .36 | 9.0 |
Jerry Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb, Henry Ruggs, Justin Jefferson -- those seem to be the consensus top wideouts in this draft. One of them seems very likely to be headed to Vegas.
--Andy Richardson