The Raiders will continue their efforts to trade wide receiver Hunter Renfrow, as Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes. The club tried to deal Renfrow in advance of the 2023 trade deadline, but the guaranteed money that remained on the slot man’s contract proved to be a deterrent for interested teams.
Now, however, the only money left on Renfrow’s deal is his non-guaranteed base salary of $11.15MM. As the Clemson product is coming off of back-to-back disappointing seasons, that number would be just as untenable for an acquiring club as it would be for the Raiders, but the contract should be easy enough to re-work in order to make a trade happen.
And it stands to reason that there will be some degree of interest in Renfrow’s services. In 2021, the Jon Gruden–Mike Mayock draftee posted a 103/1,038/9 line that earned him a Pro Bowl nod and a two-year, $32MM extension in June 2022. While the since-deposed Josh McDaniels–Dave Ziegler partnership signed off on that investment, Renfrow proved to be a poor fit in McDaniels’ offense.
Shortly after Antonio Pierce took over for McDaniels midway through the 2023 season, Renfrow showed some flashes of his former self, including a three-game stretch in which he posted 12 catches for 126 yards. Those totals represented about half of his output for the entire season — he ended the year with 25 catches for 255 yards — but from Weeks 16 through 18, he appeared in just 28 total snaps and was not targeted once.
Still, Renfrow profiles as an intriguing change-of-scenery candidate for a team in need of a slot weapon, especially since he just turned 28 in December and is not too far removed from Pro Bowl-level production.
“[Renfrow is] an NFL-caliber wide receiver,” Pierce said last month (via Heavy.com). “He’s a starting receiver. He’s a really good football player.”
Bonsignore confirms that if the Raiders cannot find a trade partner, they will release Renfrow (assuming the two sides are not interested in coming to terms on a pay reduction). Due to void years in Renfrow’s contract, Las Vegas would be saddled with a $5.5MM dead money charge if he is cut with a pre-June 1 designation, though such a move would also create $8.2MM of cap savings.
Trade him to the Angels for Hunter Renfroe
Royals*
Commanders
Patriots
Bears
Vikings
Bengals
Cardinals
Could be a decent buy low candidate you can get for a 7th depending on the reworked contract.
But most likely raiders wind up cutting him.
Add the Steelers to the list imo. Robinson will be a cap casualty and I’m not sure Austin is ever going to be able to fully fill the role.
Austin is 5’4 on a good day. Drafting him to begin with was a mistake. Dri Archer 2.0.
Agree about Austin but with Pickett at QB, why bother? Can’t throw deep balls, can’t hit receivers in stride, can’t read defenses and gets a severe case of happy feet under the smallest amount of pressure. Would love to have Renfroe, but not with this guy as QB
Pickett is the worst QB to ever take a snap if were going to be honest.
Renfroe is exactly the type of receiver Pickett could use. A reliable possession guy that can give Pickett another option on shorter routes over the middle and in the flat besides Friermuth or a RB. Opens up the outside and deep crossing routes for Pickens too.
I don’t see it, Jimmy but for this offense, and with a talented QB I do see your point. Unfortunately, Pickett is not that guy. Five years from now, we’ll look back and shake our heads about how the Steelers were fooled
Again, I have to say I applauded the selection. But I was wrong. 24 starts have been enough
No doubt in my mind that Canada, while he was overmatched in his job, devised an offense to utilize Pickett’s “strengths”. There just aren’t many
Compensatory pick for Browns(he played with Deshaun in college), Steelers Panthers(depth needed badly) Giants Niners or Commanders
Dude made a fortune off bad management and good for him!
I am sure people tire of me, but he would look great in a Bucs Uniform
If he ends up getting released, then the Saints should kick the tires on him. It’ll reunite him with Carr, and he can work out of the slot, and over the middle of the field. He would help fill a need.
Don’t know why you wouldn’t just use him, but then again, I don’t know why McDaniels just decided to not use him, either. There’s no way that you could convince me that Renfrow isn’t one of the three best receivers on that team.
This seems like it would be better as a deadline trade. If a divorce is inevitable, perhaps allowing Renfrow to rebuild value until the deadline would a good way to drive up price. If Renfrow shows the value that’s been stashed on the bench, it’ll get someone interested. If he and the Raiders are productive, it would seem like a win-win.
And if he doesn’t, then you get nothing for him. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
That’s what they’re doing anyway by releasing him if no trade is done. Don’t get your point, really.
Unless you’re telling me that Renfrow is a useless player, in which case you won’t get anything for him, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to be forcing out a player who’s been productive in the past for negligible value. Let him catch some passes, show that he still has it, and trade him to a contender at the deadline…or cut him like you were going to anyway.
Ufffffff, referencing heavy.com. Not reliable. Especially when it comes to them reporting on the Raiders.
Zach Wilson for Hunter Renfrow… they’ll both cost $11 million next season and each team has a need at QB and WR. Both are busts, so why not take a chance on the “change of scenery” myth?!
Clowns. On year too late. So Raiders.
Renfrow *seemed* like he would be a perfect fit for Josh McDaniels’ offense that got big production out of slot guys: Welker, Amendola, Edelman. But it seems now, like a lot of went right in NE, that it was more about Brady.