After another loss on Monday night and falling to 3-5 on the season, there were many who believed the Las Vegas Raiders would make a couple of moves at the trade deadline. One name who was known to be available was wide receiver Hunter Renfrow, who had clearly fallen out of favor with head coach Josh McDaniels and was rarely used.
Ultimately the Raiders wound up making no moves ahead of the deadline, but did make a major one later on Tuesday, firing head coach Josh McDaniels, GM Dave Ziegler and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi. One executive pointed to this move being the reason why the Raiders weren’t returning his calls, but at least one deal was being seriously discussed prior to the trade deadline.
According to Ian Rapaport of NFL Network, the Raiders were in talks with the New Orleans Saints on a trade for Renfrow, but the two sides couldn’t work out the specifics of the deal:
“I didn’t get the sense any trade was gonna happen. The only one I thought might happen was Hunter Renfrow going to the Saints. But just so much contractual stuff that they had to work out. Who was gonna pay his salary, didn’t get it done by yesterday. In the end, just did not end up happening.”
The move would have made some sense and reunited Renfrow with former Raiders quarterback Derek Carr whom he has great chemistry. But that contract extension Renfrow signed last offseason proved to be a hurdle the two sides couldn’t overcome as they couldn’t figure out who would be paying the majority of what he is owed this season.
The Raiders will now move forward under interim head coach Antonio Pierce and it will be interesting to see whether Renfrow’s role will be increased. The team is already turning to rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell and often times a good slot receiver who gets open underneath can be very useful to a young player.
It wasn’t long ago that Renfrow was considered arguably the best slot receiver in the NFL and made a Pro Bowl because of how effective he was. If he can recapture that form it would go a long way towards helping unlock this offense which has struggled mightily despite the talent possessed such as Renfrow, Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers and Josh Jacobs. Now with the deadline passed and someone else calling the shots, Renfrow has a chance to show he can still be effective.
