Raiders officially rule out wide receiver Hunter Renfrow
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow is officially out for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.
The rookie suffered a rib injury that reportedly punctured his lung during Sunday’s loss to the Jets and was ruled out indefinitely. Coach Jon Gruden said the injury isn’t necessarily season ending.
“Right now we’re listing him as week-to-week,” Gruden said Wednesday. “We’re not going to mess around with the rib-lung area. He won’t play against the Chiefs, though I know he wants to play. He feels good, but until we get the green light from the training staff, he won’t play.”
The team promoted receiver Rico Gafford from the practice squad later in the day, releasing center Erik Magnuson to make room on the active roster. Zay Jones also might see increased targets.
“You’ve seen (Jones’) role increase every week,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “He’s got to step up and be a guy for us, which he is. He’s been doing a great job when we’ve thrown it to him. He’s made some great plays, especially on third downs. the confidence is very high in what he can do.”
Still, Carr admitted the loss of Renfrow will sting.
“I love that guy,” Carr said. “We spent a lot of time during training camp before every walkthrough walking the field and going over certain routes we knew we were going to throw. We did that every day. When you have that kind of chemistry and time put into that kind of relationship, you just trust somebody. Then when you get into real games and they keep making plays for you, it’s like, ‘How do you not get him the ball?’
“He’ll be back whenever he gets back and everything’s fine. Most importantly, we care about his health and things like that. With him out, it definitely opens the door for other guys to get more catches.”
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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.