Drafting Henry Ruggs Was a Mark, Al Davis Special

Raiders owner Mark Davis hopes Henry Ruggs does for his team what Cliff Branch did for his father, Al.

Much has been made about the fact that Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis is a businessman, and not a football man like his late father, Al.

However, Mark Davis made sure the Silver and Black picked the player he felt his father would have chosen in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft—speedy wide receiver Henry Ruggs III of Alabama.

“Henry Ruggs was the player I wanted the last 6 months,” Mark Davis said, according to a Twitter post by Vic Tafur of The Athletic. “My dad was always trying to replace Cliff Branch. … Speed, speed, speed. We really got away from that the last 6, 7 years. We really didn’t have anybody that could run.”

Ruggs, who ran the fastest 40-yard dash of 4.27 seconds at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine, was chosen by the Raiders with the 12th overall pick of the draft. Mark Davis obviously made his case with General Manager Mike Mayock and Coach Jon Gruden, who went along with the boss.

Ruggs’ time in the 40 is the fourth-fastest at the Combine since electronic timing began at the event in 1999.

The 5-11, 188-pound Ruggs played on an Alabama team that won the 2017 CFB national championship and lost in the 2018 national title game, catching 98 passes for 1,176 yards (a 17.5-yard average) and 24 touchdowns in three seasons—even though he was not the No. 1 option in a loaded Crimson Tide offense.

While catching only 12 passes for 229 yards, he still had six touchdowns as a freshman, before making 46 receptions for 741 yards and 11 scores as a junior, and 40 catches for 746 yards and seven TDs as a junior.

Ruggs, who on Tuesday signed a four-year contract worth $16.67 million guaranteed with the Raiders holding a fifth-year option, also had a 75-yard touchdown run last year before deciding after the season to pass up his final year of eligibility and turn pro.

Beyond those numbers, Ruggs dropped only one pass last season and four in his career.

Veteran Raiders fans will be like Mark Davis and compare Ruggs to Branch, who set a then-record of 10.0 seconds in the 100-meter dash 1972 NCAA Championship track meet and passed up a chance to make the U.S. Olympic team that year so he could get to training camp on time as a rookie.

Branch, who played college ball at Colorado, caught 501 passes for 8,685 yards (a 17.7 average) and 67 touchdowns from 1972-86 for the Raiders, and started in the Silver and Black’s victories in Super Bowl XI, XV and XVIII. He was the all-team leading receiver in NFL playoff games until Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers came along.

There were eight future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the 1976 Raiders and many believe it’s a great injustice that Branch, who passed away last August, still has not been enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

Branch opened things up for fellow wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, tight end Dave Casper, and the running game powered by backs Mark van Eeghen and Clarence Davis in the potent Raiders offense that rolled past the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, in Super Bowl XI.

“When we break the huddle, the first thing the defense looks for is where Cliff is,” quarterback Kenny “Snake” Stabler said during the 1976 season. “They are so afraid of him going deep, and they assign two and even three defenders to watch him, try to slow him down. He opens things up for everything we want to do, and he can still get open himself.”

Branch is the man who made those Raiders go, and the Silver and Black is hoping for the same from Ruggs.

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