Silver and Black Report

Johnnie Lee Higgins was drafted by the Raiders in the third round of the 2007 NFL Entry Draft as a tremendous athlete with a history of solid production and higher expectations. The Raiders felt highly enough of Higgins to make him a first day draft choice in the hopes he would solidify the slot position and provide a spark to listless special teams return and coverage units.

Higgins saw action is every game during 2007, even starting in two, and was used on punt returns, special teams coverage and as a wide receiver. Higgins’ athleticism and versatility allowed him to garner substantial playing time during his rookie campaign. The Raiders have high expectations of Higgins coming into his second season and plan to again utilize his talents in many different ways.

Raiders Head Coach, Lane Kiffin spoke during training camp about Higgins progress and articulated that he was pleased with how much physically stronger Higgins is this off-season. Kiffin likened Higgins last year to the physicality of a college freshman and indicated this as a contributing factor to the lack of overall production from him as a rookie. The Raiders approach this off-season with Higgins is similar to last year, only with higher expectations.

“The thing with Johnnie right now is we’re running him into the ground.”

During mini-camp Higgins could be seen on special teams returning kicks and punts, in coverage and even in the “gunner” role on kick coverage schemes. He has lined up as a wide receiver in the slot as well as on the outside spending substantial time catching deep balls. Higgins will look to contribute to the team with a sizeable increase in production during his second season.