The Oakland Raiders are deep at the wide receiver position and they are only getting more talent at the group with two players making their returns to the field. With offense headlined by Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, the battle has been heated to be the third receiver to start alongside the duo. Now, it gets a little more competitive with Andre Holmes coming back to the field along with tight end Clive Walford.
Holmes has been out for the last three weeks after fracturing his hand. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Holmes is back on the field and is expected to be the No.3 receiver alongside Cooper and Crabtree. After leading the team in receiving yards last year, Holmes found himself battling for a spot on the depth chart as the Raiders also have Rod Streater and Brice Butler to work with.
"It felt good being back out there, just catching the ball, running routes, just getting back to how I was during training camp," Holmes said, via MercuryNews.com. "I don't really feel behind at all. I went to meetings. I felt good out there. There was concern where my conditioning was at, but I felt really good, so now I can just move forward."
Getting Walford back means the rookie tight end could move into the starting spot over Mychal Rivera. During training camp and the preseason, Walford was the favorite for the job, but a hamstring injury knocked him out of the race. The Raiders did not release Rivera despite his lackluster preseason, but he is not expected to start of Walford can make up for lost time and get up to speed with Derek Carr.
"It was a long process, but it felt really good to be back out there with my team," Walford said. "I wanted to get back before the preseason ended, but I had to sit out, unfortunately. I'm just happy to be back."
There are still some questions about the Raiders' run game entering the season. Oakland released Trent Richardson, moving forward with Latavius Murray, Roy Helu and Michael Dyer. Rant Sports lists the team as a potential landing spot for Montee Ball following his release from the Denver Broncos. The Raiders are comfortable with Murray as the starter, but he has injury history. Helu is good, but not great. Ball could help elevate the rotation and ease some nerves should Murray get hurt at some point. It is really no guarantee that Ball heads to Oakland, but he would fit with the team if they felt the need to add one more offensive threat.
