HENDERSON, Nev. -- It was sometime during offseason workouts -- after a season of discontent and injury, after he had packed up his truck and made the cross-country drive back to his South Carolina home, and after three of his best friends were no longer on the Las Vegas Raiders -- when Hunter Renfrow exhaled.
Finally.
The slot receiver, a Pro Bowler in 2021 who battled confidence as well as health issues after signing a two-year, $32 million extension with $21 million guaranteed last summer, gave himself the capacity to reflect and look forward.
"This spring was a big time for me to go out there and prove that I could still do it, to myself, and prove that I can play," an introspective Renfrow said recently in his first public comments since last season ended. "So, that was a big deal to me. Hopefully, I got some confidence from that, and hopefully, it carries into training camp.
"Hopefully," he added later, "I can just prove [the Raiders] right for re-signing me."
Yeah, there's a lot of hope when it comes to Renfrow. Because while it is early in camp, and he's no doubt in a competition with the likes of third-round draft pick Tre Tucker and veteran free-agent signee Phillip Dorsett, Renfrow has looked as crisp eluding defenders with his fancy footwork as he's been adept at dodging trade rumors.
Indeed, that was Renfrow getting behind the secondary and diving to haul in a deep ball from new backup quarterback Brian Hoyer in training camp, eliciting oohs and ahhs from fans. And that was also Renfrow nearly faking himself out of his own cleats with a nifty juke on a punt return.
"Man, he's crafty," said new receiver teammate Jakobi Meyers. "Not even just physically, but mentally, too. The way he puts routes together, or thinks about routes before he even runs them, it's a unique skill set and another one of those guys who's earned every compliment he's gotten."
Most of that praise came in 2021, when he caught a team-leading 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns. And his production for a playoff team was needed, with Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller missing most of the second half of that season.
It was enough for the incoming regime of coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler to sign Renfrow to that extension, and for McDaniels, the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator from 2006-08 and again from 2012-21, to say that Renfrow's presence was one of the reasons he took the Raiders job.
Because, as McDaniels said, he had some "experience" with players sharing a skill set similar to the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Renfrow's. Paging Wes Welker, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, who now happens to be on the Raiders coaching staff.
But last year, Renfrow's highlights turned to lowlights -- career lows in catches (36), receiving yards (330) TD catches (2) and games played (10) -- with three heartbreaking plays summing up his campaign:
His walk-off fumble in Week 2 -- after he was concussed on a crushing hit -- with the Raiders in game-winning field goal range. The Arizona Cardinals recovered and returned it for a touchdown.
Colliding with Davante Adams and knocking both players off course on a late deep ball that could have beaten the Kansas City Chiefs in a Week 5 prime-time game at Arrowhead Stadium.
And, despite being wide open deep in Pittsburgh on a play that could have put Las Vegas in range to kick a game-tying field goal in Week 16, Derek Carr missed him and was intercepted on what turned out to be his final throw as a Raider.
"I felt like I let a lot of my teammates down last year, and that's something that left a bad taste in my mouth and something that I want to get over and prove to them ... that I'm a guy they can count on," said Renfrow, who missed games with a concussion and an oblique injury. "I didn't necessarily have a lot of fun last year. And so, that's my big thing for this year -- find ways to have fun and not really care about the outside noise and just go out there and go in with my teammates and find a way to have a blast."
He'll have to do that without those three friends: Carr, who was cut after being benched and leaving the team with two games to play in the regular season, and tight ends Waller (traded to the New York Giants) and Foster Moreau (joined Carr with the New Orleans Saints as a free agent).
"You just don't talk to them as much from a day-to-day perspective, but I know that those will be lifelong friends," Renfrow said, "and there are a lot of people in the locker room now that I'm making lifelong friends with."
But for how long? Those trade rumors won't die, not that Renfrow is paying much mind to them.
The 2019 fifth-round draft pick out of Clemson made it a point to get "back to the fundamentals, the basics, why you love the game," he said, but also to "control what I can control" on and off the field after being pulled in "a lot of different directions [by] expectations, and unnecessary ones I put on myself" last season.
Again, it's early in camp, but Renfrow has a backer in an influential position.
"Hunter is healthy, ready to roll, and came back this spring and had a great mindset, great attitude, great approach," McDaniels said. "And it's just been exciting to see him. He's out there, he's doing his thing, he's the same guy. And he's working to improve himself, helping other guys get better as well.
"I'm really excited for Hunter Renfrow this season."