The Las Vegas Raiders could be walking into their Week 5 matchup with the New England Patriots thin at wide receiver, and that reality has put the position group under a brighter spotlight.
Jalen Nailor left the previous game after a helmet-to-helmet hit and is in concussion protocol, while Jack Bech remains on injured reserve with a broken forearm. On Monday, Klint Kubiak said that "all things will be considered" when it comes to adding help at receiver.
That kind of comment usually means the same thing: the Raiders know they need more production. Tre Tucker has delivered one big outing so far, catching five passes for 119 yards and a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2, but the room as a whole has not given Kubiak enough to work with.
So the search begins. For the Silver and Black, the Week 5 scouting list points toward a trade and a possible signing that could give the passing game a jolt.
One name that stands out is Jerry Jeudy of the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland used first- and second-round picks on KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston in this year’s draft, and both have quickly carved out major roles. Concepcion has seen his snaps rise steadily, while Boston has started all four games.
That has pushed Jeudy to the margins. He is no longer in the Browns’ starting rotation, and he has already finished two games without a catch.
Cleveland has clearly leaned into its youth movement at receiver, and Jeudy appears to be outside that plan. For the Raiders, the appeal is obvious: he is 27 and just two years removed from his 2024 Pro Bowl season.
Another option is Tory Horton, a second-year pro who showed real playmaking juice early in his career. In his first seven games, Horton put up 13 catches for 161 yards and five touchdowns, and he also returned a 95-yard punt for a score. Three of his six receiving touchdowns came from outside the red zone, a reminder of how dangerous he can be in space.
A shin injury knocked his rookie year off track. This season, Horton has four catches for 54 yards and a touchdown, but he sits as the No. 4 receiver on the Seattle Seahawks depth chart behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed and Cooper Kupp. In Las Vegas, he could slide into a much larger role in Kubiak’s offense.
If the Raiders want a quicker fix, K.J. Osborn is another familiar name.
Kubiak coached him in Minnesota in 2021, when Osborn worked as the Vikings’ No. 3 receiver and produced 50 receptions for 655 yards and seven touchdowns with Kirk Cousins. After Kubiak moved on, Osborn still delivered back-to-back productive seasons, finishing with 48-plus catches and 540-plus yards in both 2022 and 2023 while scoring eight total touchdowns.
Osborn is currently on the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad, and he could give the Raiders a short-term lift until the receiver room gets healthy again.
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For the Raiders, the concern is just as real. Las Vegas is heading into a matchup that already features the Patriots without key wide receiver A.J. Brown and starting cornerbacks Carlton Davis III and Christian Gonzalez, while the Raiders themselves may be thin at running back if Ashton Jeanty cannot go. With both backfields and both game plans in flux, this one suddenly feels a lot more complicated than it did a few days ago. [Read more 🡒]