If Jordy Nelson is on his last legs, the Raiders have seen no sign of it. Nelson, 32, has looked like the Nelson who averaged 1,219 receiving yards from 2011-16.
“The thing you hear about is that he can’t run anymore; that’s false,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said, via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. “I can tell you he’s one of the fastest skill guys that we have still. He can run.”
Nelson caught only 53 passes for 482 yards and six touchdowns last season, and when he balked at a pay cut, the Packers released him. The Raiders snatched him up less than 48 hours later to pair with Amari Cooper.
“He’s wired in,” coach Jon Gruden said of Nelson. “You can see why he was a security blanket for [Aaron] Rodgers for all those years. . . . He’s proven to us he can still run. We can line him up anywhere we want. And he can run any route we draw.”