Addition of Agholor adding up

When the Raiders used the 12th overall pick on speedy wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, coach Jon Gruden understood that he had to loosen the strings on his conservative offense and open up the passing attack more.

- Michael Wagaman

Through the first two months of the season, Gruden has stayed true to that … with a twist.

While Ruggs has occasionally lived up to his end of the bargain — let’s face it, the rookie has a lot of growing to do both in the offense and with quarterback Derek Carr — it’s been 27-year old veteran Nelson Agholor who has been mostly responsible for getting the Raiders back to their deep vertical roots.

A former first-round pick who left Philadelphia after five seasons and signed with Las Vegas in March, Agholor has easily had the biggest impact out of all of the Raiders newcomers this season. Although he was fourth on the team in receptions behind tight end Darren Waller, wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and running back Josh Jacobs, Agholor’s five touchdown catches in eight games were a team-high.

All five of the touchdowns came on catches of 20 yards or more. Consider that over the last 30 seasons, only Michael Crabtree (five, 2015) had more in a single season with the Raiders. And those are the only long throws that Agholor has been targeted on, making him 5-for-5 when going deep.