Henry Ruggs III Week 9 Outlook -

By Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros), Tue, Nov 3rd 2020, 2:12pm EST

When the Raiders drafted Ruggs, I thought to myself, "They better have a plan for how to use him effectively." Watching him average 21.1 air yards per target tells me that the don't. He's averaging a robust 11.1 yards after the catch, which is the second-most in the NFL among those who have at least 10 receptions. He's great with the ball in his hands; they need to get more creative getting the ball in his hands, and not 20-plus yards down the field. The matchup with the Chargers hasn't been one where receivers rack up catches, as just two receivers have finished with more than five receptions against them. Since the Raiders only like to target Ruggs down the field, we want to look at the 20-plus yard plays the Chargers allow. Nope, doesn't help much. They've allowed just 19 pass plays of 20-plus yards, which ranks as the fifth-lowest in the NFL. However, when they allow a big one, they allow a BIG one, as they've allowed six of those 19 plays to go for 40-plus yards. The issue with playing Ruggs is that he's failed to see more than five targets in a game and hasn't topped four targets since Week 1. You know what's going to happen, right? You're going to bench him and he's going to catch one of those 50-plus yard touchdowns and you're going to say, "I knew it," but in reality, the process was bad starting a player who's averaging just 3.6 targets per game. He's a boom-or-bust WR5.