Zay Day: Raiders’ Jones ready for bigger role against Giants

A chorus of voices around the Raiders’ facility have been singing the praises of Zay Jones all the way back to training camp.

He has impressed his coaches and teammate with his improvement and work ethic every day on the practice field since joining the team in 2019.

Now the 26-year-old former second-round pick will have the chance to show it to the rest of the world when he is thrust into a starting role in Sunday’s 10 a.m. game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

While Jones has had plenty of supporters in the organization, no one wanted this to be the way the former East Carolina standout would move to the top of the depth chart.

But when Henry Ruggs crashed his car while allegedly drunk and driving more than 150 mph and a woman died, the former first-round pick was released by the team while he awaits formal charges in the case.

That was on the heels of veteran Willie Snead asking for his release last month because he didn’t see a path to more playing time.

That will now fall to Jones, who has six catches on seven targets for 115 yards and a touchdown this season. He will slide into the outside receiver position that Ruggs has occupied, racking up 36 targets through seven games, turning them into 24 catches for 469 yards and two touchdowns.

“We always talk about opportunity, and it comes in a lot of different forms, and this is an opportunity for Zay,” offensive coordinator Greg Olson said. “Not the opportunity he was looking for, but we’ve always felt real strong about Zay Jones and his abilities as a receiver. … He’s had a very good week of practice.”

While Jones doesn’t possess the raw speed of Ruggs, Olson doesn’t believe the offense has to drop off at all.

“If you were to talk to not only just Derek, but the rest of the players on offense at every position,” Olson said, “they’ve got all the confidence in the world in Zay, and we do as well as a staff.”

Quarterback Derek Carr praising Jones’ potential is nothing new. He has done it at every opportunity when speaking to the media, but now it’s time to see that ability on the field. Carr believes Jones’ work ethic will lead to results.

“He’s the hardest practicing person I’ve ever seen in my life,” Carr said last week. “Now he has a very big role, but roles change in the NFL quickly and his role has changed just along with some other guys whose roles are going to change. But it’s still whatever your role is, do it to the best of your ability. It’s got to be like nothing ever happened.”

The Raiders don’t have to go back very far to see evidence of such a theory. Star tight end Darren Waller missed their last game against the Eagles when he injured his ankle late in the week at practice. Foster Moreau stepped up with six catches for 60 yards and a touchdown.

Both tight ends should be available Sunday and will be needed in the passing game, along with the running backs.

As of Ruggs’ release on Tuesday, the Raiders had just three wide receivers on the roster. Dillon Stoner was promoted from the practice squad on Thursday. Javon Wims and Marcell Ateman are possible practice squad call-ups for game day.

But the Raiders will be going into a key road game rather short-handed at receiver. It’s nothing new and Carr doesn’t expect any drop-off in performance, mostly because he believes his teammates only care about winning.

“I think the one word I can think of is selfless,” he said. “Our superstar player and our tight end (Waller) is the most selfless player on our team, and when your best player is your most selfless player, everyone else has to fall in line. Who can argue about not getting targets if his targets go from 20 to four one day?”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.