2020 NFL Draft: 5 Worst picks from the first round

UNSPECIFIED LOCATION - APRIL 23: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) In this still image from video provided by the NFL, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks from his home in Bronxville, New York during the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft on April 23, 2020. (Photo by NFL via Getty Images) /

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(Photo by NFL via Getty Images) /

Las Vegas Raiders: WR Henry Ruggs III, No. 12 overall

Leave it to the newly minted Las Vegas Raiders to take the consensus third-best wide receiver in the 2020 NFL Draft class when the top two players at the position were still on the board.

The Raiders made Henry Ruggs III out of Alabama the first wide receiver taken in the draft, passing on his Alabama teammate Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb of Oklahoma. This isn’t to say that Ruggs won’t be good but Jeudy and Lamb are both better route runners and have better hands than Ruggs. Simply put, they are better overall prospects.

My guess is that the Raiders saw Ruggs’ 40-yard dash time and that shot him up their draft board. Buyer beware, though; this is the same team that drafted Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh overall pick in 2009 based highly off of his 4.30-second 40-yard dash. Heyward-Bey has 16 career touchdowns and has spent the last five seasons as a special teams player with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It’s not difficult to understand the fascination with Ruggs and his speed but speed does not equal success, especially at the wide receiver position. John Ross, the aforementioned Heyward-Bey, Jacoby Ford — and the list goes on.

Will Ruggs III be the next in the line of fast receivers who don’t pan out? For the Raiders’ sake, I hope not.

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