Cody White Continues To Quietly Produce For Raiders Offense

The Las Vegas Raiders need production from their wide receivers, and they got it from a surprising source early on as Cody White came out of nowhere to catch three touchdown passes during the Raiders' initial winning streak. 

White’s touchdown production has slowed, largely because of the return of tight end Brock Bowers to the Raiders lineup after an early knee injury. That’s created opportunities for multiple players who are ahead of White on the depth chart, so he’s taken more of a background role. 

But that doesn’t mean the Raiders receiver has disappeared. White pops up every now and then in his secondary role, but all five of his catches have gone for first downs. 

White is also following the playbook for someone in his position. He says he’s in the film room, according to a piece from Levi Edwards of Raiders.com. He’s also the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave, which is how you get noticed when you have a coach with the work ethic of Klint Kubiak. 

But White also knows the drill from his family background. His father, Sheldon, played defensive back for six seasons in the NFL with the New York Giants, Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals, per the writer. 

That led to White getting some of his early training as a receiver from backyard battles with his father, and White was also a jack of all trades as a high school athlete in Michigan, playing receiver, quarterback, running back, safety, cornerback, punter, placekicker and return specialist. 

White says he was almost thrown into the deck attached to the house because his father wanted to show him that he couldn’t release, but the receiver has since learned plenty of tactics to get around that. 

Now White will get a new opportunity as quarterback Fernando Mendoza takes the reins as the starting quarterback. Mendoza established connections with many of the younger backups in training camp, so it’s an opportunity for White to make a new connection with Mendoza as a starter. 

Kubiak certainly believes in him, as he brought in White from the Seattle Seahawks as a special teamer. White caught a big touchdown on a corner route in Seattle for Kubiak, so this is just a continuation of that process. He might not get on the field right away, but White has developed a knack for producing when he does.