When the Raiders open their exhibition season Friday night against the Cardinals at Arizona’s University of Phoenix Stadium, starters aren’t expected to see much playing time.
At wide receiver, that means a handful of undrafted free agents get their first chance to make an impression and begin a push for roster spots.
Joe Hansley (Colorado State), K.J. Brent (Wake Forest), Max McCaffrey (Duke), Johnny Holton (Cincinnati), Jaydon Mickens and Marvin Hall (both Washington) have all looked good at various times in the team’s offseason program and in training camp. But now head coach Jack Del Rio wants to see what they can do against another team under the lights of an NFL game.
“For us the key is what they do when it’s real, when they’re going against another opponent,” Del Rio told Levi Damien of SB Nation. “When they’re not familiar with the coverages they’re seeing, when they’re having to adjust to what they’re getting during the game. I feel good about the whole process. We’ll continue evaluation and obviously it goes up a notch when you get into the games.”
Quarterback Derek Carr, too, wants to see what players will do in their first pro game, and singled out Mickens and Holton.
Holton is an intriguing prospect and one who has looked outstanding in camp workouts so far. He has good size (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) and has been a big-play receiver in junior college and then at Cincinnati. In JC he averaged 23.8 yards per catch; at Cincinnati last season he led the nation with a 27.1-yard average. That was on 17 catches over eight games in a season cut short by a hamstring injury.
Lance Zierlein of NFL.com noted in his scouting report on Holton before this year’s draft that Holton’s outstanding speed makes him a “straight-up vertical guy who can blaze and hit the home run” but lacks a lot of nuance and technique that would make him a more complete receiver. He also was a dangerous kick returner for the Bearcats.
Raiders
Holton told Damien that one of the reasons he signed with the Raiders was because of the advice of Amari Cooper, the team’s No. 1 wideout who was a boyhood friend. Holton says Cooper told him he was good enough to play in the NFL.
Now, he’s getting his chance.
“I’m looking forward 100 percent,” Holton said. “I’m ready. It will be a big surprise, being in an NFL stadium playing. I envisioned it. I’m just ready.”
Cooper believes in his friend.
“He’s made some great catches here,” Cooper told Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle. “He has qualities you look for in a receiver. No one can jam him at the line, and he’s fast. He’s developing nicely.”
