Shocking: Raiders’ player responsible for Hayden Hopkins pregnancy.
The circumstances surrounding Hayden Hopkins in Las Vegas are starting to come to light.
Erroneous claims from NFL aggregator accounts earlier this week stated that dancing Hopkins, 26, of the Vegas region, was expecting a child with Raiders owner Mark Davis, 69.
Hopkins quickly removed the Mark Davis rumors from her X account.
“It is completely false that Mark Davis is the father of my child, as reported by some. In 2022, I was spotted at a game next to him, and ever then, there have been unfounded reports of a romantic involvement between us. Sitting in the owner’s box with my pals, I was merely a guest.
MLB outfielder Joey Gallo is Hopkins’ child’s father, according to TMZ Sports.
Although Hopkins never dated Davis, TMZ verified that she was acquainted with him from her time as a Raiderettes dancer.
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2024 NFL season: Raiders’ top rookie sleeper to have an effect
A little-known talent might be the Raiders’ next big offensive weapon.
The first-round selection of the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2024 NFL Draft surprised a lot of people. When they selected Brock Bowers 13th overall, it was not anticipated that he would be available. But when a team has a guy like him, it’s hard to argue against them selecting the greatest player available. The Raiders used a draft pick on two offensive skill position players, including Bowers. The other was applied to Dylan Laube, the running back from New Hampshire, in the sixth round. Laube appears to be a sleeper prospect for the Raiders going into the 2024 campaign and has an opportunity to establish himself with this squad.
Dylan Laube is an agile receiver of passes.
A lot of fun to play, Dylan Laube. Being an FCS player at New Hampshire gave him the opportunity to go unnoticed as a prospect during the draft. But there’s no denying that he can play.
In his first three college seasons, injuries and COVID stole Laube’s playing time and output; however, in his final two, he was quite impressive. He gained 1,920 yards and 24 touchdowns on 403 carries. Laube plays with a lot of actual juice.
However, Laube’s true strength in the game isn’t even in that area. The receiving game is where he excels the most. Laube hauled in 169 receptions during his career. Of those, 117 were from the previous two seasons alone. For a running back, that is an absurd amount, regardless of his opponent. To put things in perspective, Christian McCaffrey finished his college career with 82 receptions.
Any doubt about Laube’s dominance over weaker opponents ought to have been dispelled at the Senior Bowl. In addition to competing there, Laube distinguished himself from some of the top college football players.
Laube is a dynamic player whose skill set is adaptable enough to allow him to play a part. After joining the Raiders, that position might end up being bigger than expected.
The Raiders made a fantastic landing zone.
It was assumed that the Raiders would consider expanding their running back room before choosing Laube. As it happened, that was untrue. Rather, Zamir White will take over as Las Vegas’ starter running back, with Laube and Alexander Mattison providing support.
The truth is that neither Mattison nor White excel as pass catchers. Although White is a strong runner, forcing him to play receiver isn’t a good use of his skills. He has 15 career receptions in two NFL seasons, all of which came in the previous campaign. In one game, five of those were made.
Although he had a respectable 1.4 yards per route run last season, there is not enough data to conclude that he can be effective in that area of the game. Last year, White only completed 70 routes. In his three seasons as a college player at Georgia, he also only caught 17 passes. More data points to the possibility that he isn’t a trustworthy pass catcher (yet).
This also holds true for Alexander Mattison. Despite accomplishing so in his first three seasons, he has not been able to produce a yards per route ran average above one in the last two seasons. But in only one of those years did he run over 100 routes, so there wasn’t much of a sample size there either.
Laube should go up against Ameer Abdullah to secure the receiving back position. If he does, he will be in a prime position to catch passes in the event that Gardner Minshew is selected as the starting quarterback. Check-down king Minshew. With Minshew in 2019, Leonard Fournette had a season with 76 receptions. Throughout the nine games Minshew participated in in 2020, James Robinson averaged 64 receptions per game.
2024 projections for the rookie sleeper for the Raiders
Dylan Laube has a great opportunity to start the season with some impressive stats in addition to earning playing time. He plays in a backfield with a quarterback who enjoys checking it down and other backs who are not as good pass catchers as he is. In addition, despite attending a small school, he is just a good player.
Laube is an athlete to keep an eye on. He won’t receive the same praise as Bowers, his draft companion. However, it shouldn’t come as a shock if they frequently play together in 2024.
