After a fine start to the year, Raiders wide receiver Tyrell Williams is sitting squarely in the middle of a mid-season slump and it feels like it’s get close to ‘put up or shut up’ time for the Raiders new no. 1 wideout (not that TW has been talking).
Williams looked the part of a $44 million receiver in his first five games with the Raiders, catching a touchdown in each. But dropped passes (a few in key situations) have plagued Williams ever since and he hasn’t been quite the downfield threat that many had hoped he would be.
The Athletic’s Vic Tafur talked about Derek Carr’s demeanor over the past few games and suggested on Friday that the Raiders quarterback might be losing confidence in Williams.
“If you watch Derek Carr’s body language the last few weeks, he seems to have lost some confidence in Williams,” Tafur said. “The drops were more costly in the Texans game than the Jets one, but he has not been reliable. Jon Gruden has given Williams the ‘bad foot’ excuse a couple of times, but he needs to make plays, especially if teams are keying on Waller. The Chargers did let him go, which is a little telling as far as his him having a No. 1-guy ceiling or not.”
Whatever the case, if the Raiders want to stay in the playoff hunt, it won’t happen without production from their top wide receiver. Williams should be motivated to play better, too, because the Raiders can void his $44 million deal after the season with no dead money. Certainly no team is going to pay Williams $10 million per-year for what the Raiders have gotten from Tyrell over the last month, so the next few games are huge for him.
What would be nice is if Williams can put it together this weekend and help put the Raiders back at the top of the division with a win over the Chiefs.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Mike Irvin spoke of the dog, that is inside the #1 receiver. I do not see that in Williams yet. The #1 receiver wants the ball and then produces. Fire, passion, desire, big dog mentality. It’s missing.
Funny that Williams is getting hit already.
How much does Carr throw to him and more importantly how good are the throws?
No WR can catch a ball that is thrown 4 ft behind or in front
Let’s not start talking bad until he really gets bad
Kinda like Goff for the Rams who hasn’t produced since last year
Let’s talk Rams
Cut him!! He lost that Jets game for us!!!
34 to 3 was all on him? I guess that lets 45 others off the hook, huh?
Look I’ve been a Raider fan since 76! Tyrell Williams it’s not that bad a receiver and Derek Carr it’s not that great of a quarterback! With that being said let’s just go play Raider football! If you people have forgotten with that is, it’s just win baby remember that! I’ve watched my team fall from the Mountaintop to the valley of maturity and I don’t like it! At one point I was the proudest and the loudest Raiders fan on God’s green earth but this has to change and it’s not just one person it’s a collective effort on the whole team! Not Tyrell Williams not Derek Carr but the Raiders as a whole! And in my opinion let’s start with our secondary they suck okay! The d-line can only do so much and the linebackers have to step up to. It hurts my pride and my feelings to see the the Great silver and black flounder like a fish out of water! How about this get rid of Gruden sorry-*** and maybe maybe things will change I don’t like him after he jump ship the first time to me he’s a loser to the first degree
Tyrell was good with the Chargers when Rivers hit him in stride for long touchdowns. He didn’t do very well when he had to go across the middle. When free agency started he said he was a #1 WR. He never played like one with the Chargers. Keenan Allen and Mike Williams were there 2 top WR’s.
Raiders have straight up stunk since that last super bowl appearance. Heres what they do… run play, two screens plays, punt and finally LOSE. Being a Raiders fan it pains me but they need an enema of enormous proportions,
THIS is not on carr….if carr had any of the elite wr and williams who is a two not a one they would be fine….AB is much to blame and the def is really pieced together…..And other teams know what they are going to do because they have no real number one to go over the top…..