Third-and-Renfrow has morphed into fourth-and-Renfrow for Raiders
Third-and-Renfrow? Time to add “Fourth and Renfrow” to the mix.
Hunter Renfrow, the Raiders’ second-year slot receiver, is one of Derek Carr’s most trusted receivers on third down. It’s become known as “Third-and-Renfrow” to the fan base, which saturates Twitter with the phrase both before and after thirddown plays when the Raiders come to the line hoping to sustain a drive.
Now Renfrow is the Raiders’ full-time punt return specialist as well, and is coming off a Denver game in which he had returns of 27 and 60 yards called back on penalties by Keisean Nixon (holding) and Johnathan Abram (illegal blindside block).
It’s a relatively new role for Renfrow, given that he returned just three punts as a Clemson freshman in 2015 and then never again in college. He’ll be returning punts when the Raiders host the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday night at Allegiant Stadium.
“I haven’t done it much, “Renfrow said Wednesday in a video conference. “I wasn’t able to do it much in college, we had a bunch of guys, Ray-Ray McCloud, he’s killing it for the Steelers, and Artavis Scott who’s with the Texans now.”
McCloud is averaging 15.0 yards per return for Pittsburgh, while Scott is on Houston’s practice squad.
Renfrow had five punt returns last season for 38 yards, and he has 10 so far this year for 116 yards. The Raiders turned to Renfrow out of reliability, realizing he was pretty much a sure thing in the most important aspect of the role — catching the ball. But Renfrow has been as decisive as he is surehanded, and Jon Gruden doesn’t sound as if he’ll be looking for another punt return specialist any time soon.
“He’s been very reliable back there making good decisions,” Gruden said. “He’s a northsouth, no-nonsense, quick runner that can really finish plays. We’re excited about him and hopefully we can continue to get him some good looks.”
Renfrow, a former high school center fielder in Myrtle Beach,
S.C., breaks down the role in baseball terms.
“For me, it’s just hitting those base hits, just getting five yards, 10 yards, every time, averaging a first down, and then the big ones will come,” Renfrow said.
As for third down, Renfrow’s stats aren’t eye-opening by NFL standards. He has secured a first down on all eight of his third-down catches (for 170 yards) on 13 targets. The eight first downs tie him for 25th in the NFL. As a rookie, while missing three games, Renfrow tied for 13th in the NFL with 23 third-down receptions (in 33 tar
gets) for 344 yards, and his 16 first downs was tied for 22nd.
But Renfrow doesn’t play every snap and the Raiders are a middle-ofthe-road team statistically in terms of passing stats because of Gruden’s insistence on balance between run and pass.
Renfrow goes into “aw shucks” mode when asked about the “thirdand-Renfrow” moniker, citing the Raiders’ balance for giving him opportunities
to shine.
“It’s definitely a credit to the way we control the tempo, the way we control the offense, how efficient we are,” Renfrow said.
“I think I get more credit than I deserve because a lot of the times it’s third-and-2 because our offense does such a great job of moving the ball and we get into short yardages and it’s not third-and-10, third-and-11. It’s a cool little catchphrase but it’s undeserving at times because of how the offense plays and the good job everybody does, not just me.”