Nelson Agholor embracing mentor role for Raiders rookie WR Henry Ruggs III
Some of us are old enough to remember when Nelson Agholor was a first-round pick in the NFL draft. He was selected with the 20th overall selection out of USC in the 2015 draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Agholor was one of those guys who ‘shot up draft boards’ in the draft leadup. Much like Henry Ruggs III who impressed at the combine including running a combine best 4.27 40-yard dash, helping make him the first receiver off the board at No. 12 overall.
Agholor understands the pressures of being a team’s top pick. And being that he comes to the Raiders with five NFL seasons under his belt, he has some knowledge to impart upon his rookie first-round receiver teammate.
“One thing about Henry is it’s in his DNA to want to be great. That’s the first thing,” Agholor said Wednesday from training camp. “For me I try to tell him not to focus on putting pressure on himself, because he does have talent around him. If anything play fast and play with no hesitation because you got guys that got your back. You got a coaching staff that really has your back, they’re going to put you in the position to be successful. Study hard, work hard, but have fun when you’re out there. That’s what I’m always going to remind him, because he is super talented, he’s a winner, but most importantly early on is to not be too obsessive with mistakes. You want to be a guy who has a next play mentality and is embracing having fun with the game.”
While Ruggs is hoping to live up to his expectations as a rookie, Agholor is still trying to recapture the upward trajectory he once had. After seeing his overall numbers go up each of his first three seasons, his production has gone down each of the past two seasons. So, in some ways, this is a new beginning for him as well.
In some ways, he has the opportunity to have the best of both worlds — the veteran mentor, but still young enough (27) to get his arrow pointing back up again.
“Being older is kind of cool because I’m actually really young,” Agholor adde. “I can still relate a lot, but I played a lot of football so I bring experience. When a guy goes through a certain situation, I can relate to going through that situation, whether it’s not [recognizing] a coverage right away because of a lack of reps or things like that. I can tell him ‘it’s ok, it happens,’ things are going live, you just got to be able to react second nature at times.”
It can be a tough ask to expect a player like Agholor, who is trying to find his way onto the field with a new team, to basically help out a teammate directly standing in his way of getting those snaps. But Agholor seems to be embracing that as part of his role with the Raiders.
