Raiders' Mayock: Speed separated Ruggs from Jeudy, Lamb

Al Davis would be proud.

The Las Vegas Raiders had their choice of the draft's top three wide receivers when they were on the clock with the No. 12 pick. They surprised many by taking Alabama's Henry Ruggs III - who most pundits had as the third-best receiver - over his college teammate Jerry Jeudy and Oklahoma's CeeDee Lamb.

"All three wide receivers we felt were diverse and would bring different things to the Raiders and I feel like coach Gruden and that offensive staff is so good they could have gotten the most out of all three of them," Mayock said after the draft. "However, the distinguishing factor really was his speed, his explosion, and his work ethic."

Ruggs ran a 4.27 40-yard dash - the fastest of any player at the 2020 scouting combine. Davis, the late Raiders owner, was known for prioritizing speed during his time running the franchise.

In high school, Ruggs set the Alabama state record for the 100m dash and put together a wildly impressive dunk reel on the hardwood.

Ruggs was vastly outproduced by Jeudy the last two seasons at Alabama. However, 24 of Ruggs' 98 career receptions in college went for touchdowns. Mayock believes his explosiveness will complement the rest of the Raiders' offense nicely.

"He can run the deep routes. He also gets the manufactured touches, the bubble screens, the jet sweeps," he said. "I think if you force defenses to roll coverage, it opens up our run game. You respect our deep routes, it opens up Darren Waller. I just think it does an awful lot of things for us offensively."

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