Mike Mayock: Raiders 'Would Love' to Have Nelson Agholor Return in Free Agency

Coming off the best season of his career, the Las Vegas Raiders hope to bring wide receiver Nelson Agholor back in 2021.   

Raiders general manager Mike Mayock told reporters the team "would love" to re-sign Agholor in free agency:

"When I lived in Philadelphia, I did the Eagles preseason games and Nelly was an Eagle. I was familiar with his work ethic and appreciated him back then. What he brought to the Raiders last year was off the charts. He brought a work ethic, a toughness. He brought the young guys along with him, and he brought productivity and trust with our quarterback.

"All of those things he brought, we don't want to lose. We'd love to have Nelly back. That's a guy that I can't tell you how much appreciation I have for."

Agholor turned out to be one of the best free-agent bargains of the 2020 season. The 27-year-old ranked second in the NFL with 18.7 yards per reception, set a career high with 896 receiving yards and tied his personal best with eight touchdowns. 

Since he was coming off five inconsistent seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Raiders were able to sign Agholor for one year, $1.047 million. 

Despite that 2020 performance, Pro Football Focus projects Agholor will sign a reasonable two-year, $15 million contract with $7 million guaranteed from the Raiders this offseason. 

Cap space is a problem for the Raiders right now, with Spotrac projecting them to have $6.7 million available. 

There's certainly a risk factor betting on Agholor to remain consistent from year to year. He only had more than 400 receiving yards twice in five years with the Eagles and never averaged more than 12.4 yards per reception from 2015-19. 

The Raiders offense seemed to make better use of Agholor's skills than Philadelphia was able to in his later years with the organization. They are going to bring back the bulk of their skill-position players next season, including Darren Waller, Henry Ruggs III and Josh Jacobs. 

Agholor helped Las Vegas rank 10th in scoring and finish with a non-losing record (8-8) for the first time since 2016.