Raiders' Renfrow Most Underappreciated Player on Team

Las Vegas Raiders’ wide receiver Hunter Renfrow had a monster season a year ago, and yet he was underappreciated in many ways.

The NFL Network released a list of the most underappreciated players on each AFC team.

On a list by NFL Network Analytics Expert Cynthia Frelund, she named the Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Hunter Renfrow as the most underappreciated player on the team.

“Yes, Renfrow is coming off his first career Pro Bowl -- but it's fair to wonder if the former fifth-round pick has been overshadowed in Las Vegas by this off-season's Davante Adams acquisition. [Next-Gen Stats] shows that Renfrow's plus-11.5 catch rate over expected when aligned wide last season paced the NFL. He also averaged 3.4 yards of target separation when aligned wide (fourth-most). His versatility will allow him to pair well with Adams, too; Renfrow's 643 receiving yards last season from the slot ranked sixth in the NFL, while he scored five times on passes outside the numbers (tied for 10th),” Frelund noted.

In a season full of turmoil, the Raiders wide receiver prevailed, broke out and helped carry the team to the playoffs.

In 2021, Renfrow had a breakout season while becoming one of the best wide receivers in the league. He tallied 103 receptions for 1,038 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, leading the team in all three categories.

The fifth-round (149th overall) selection in the 2019 NFL Draft became the first Raiders wide receiver to reach over 1,000 receiving yards since Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree did it in 2016.

Renfrow is doing all of this under his rookie contract, which averages an annual salary of $708,987 and ranks 349th among active receivers.

As he enters the fourth year of his rookie contract, he is expected to make nearly $2.5 million in 2022, per Spotrac, still considered to be underpaid for how productive he has been over his career.

Frelund’s formulated calculations on figuring out each team’s underappreciated player as said by her were, “without getting overly technical, contribution metric, or win share, measures each player's production during a season, in this case, the 2021 campaign. The metric encompasses a value for every snap by each player and reveals each player's contribution to the team's overall win total.”

After the calculations, she factored in each player's salary by position to add some context around who was being "underappreciated” or in this case, underpaid for their productive services.

Indeed, Renfrow has been underappreciated in terms of media attention and his contract, but as the Raiders prepare for next season, he will have plenty of help on the receiving core to allow him to be the "Deuces Wild" on the offense and should be the next Raider to receive a contract extension.

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