If Tom McMahon’s Las Vegas Raiders special teams unit is judged only on the performance of long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer, place kicker Daniel Carlson, and punter and holder AJ Cole III, the veteran coach has an exceptional squad.
Aside from the kickers, the Silver and Black have a serious dearth of returners. Sure, the NFL has drastically reduced kickoff returns in the sake of player safety, but returning punts remains a viable field-flipping option.
There was a time when the Raiders would always send out a blazing speedster to return punts. The team has an outstanding list of highlight-reel returners (see the history section below).
This past season, veteran wide receiver DeAndre Carter, an unrestricted free agent, handled both kickoff and punt returns. The 30-year-old San Jose native returned 24 kickoffs for 22 yards, including a long of 32. He also fielded 11 punts for 262 yards, with a long of 40. Carter had his moments as the Raiders’ primary return man, but it remains unknown whether he will return for the 2024 season.
In 2022, experienced running back Ameer Abdullah will serve as kickoff returner, fielding 26 for 543 yards and a long of 33. Wide receivers Keelan Cole (13 returns for 79 yards, a long of 13) and Hunter Renfrow (11 for 74, a long of 17) took turns returning punts. Renfrow’s performance was vastly different from the 2021 season, when he fielded 31 punts for 303 yards and had a long return of 41 yards. Three players fielded kickoffs, with Jalen Richard leading the way with 11 returns for 227 yards and a long of 30.
As you can see, the group has been safe and efficient, but not exceptional.
To find a punt return for a touchdown, you had to go back to the 2018 season, when Dwayne Harris made a heads-up play and housed the boot 99 yards against the Denver Broncos. To locate the last time a Raider took a kickoff the distance, look back to the 2011 season, when Jacoby Ford blasted the Cleveland Browns with a 101-yard return.
This brings us back to the modern day Raiders.
