The Las Vegas Raiders have their new draft class now, so Tyree Wilson will be moving on to the New Orleans Saints.
The Las Vegas Raiders are starting over again, and this time the contrast between the former leaders and the current regime could hardly be greater. That helps explain in part the Raiders’ decision to trade former first round pick Tyree Wilson to the New Orleans Saints, as the Raiders landed the No. 150 pick and No. 219 for the edge rusher who was the No. 7 overall pick of the 2023 draft.
It’s an interesting trade, and we’ll undoubtedly see more moves like this from Las Vegas as they work with their new draftees and free agents. Wilson recorded four sacks with eight tackles for loss and six quarterback hits last season, and he also had a pair of forced fumbles, one pass defensed and a fumble recovery, according to Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, although the trade was reported by multiple outlets.
Wilson finished his Raiders career with just 12 sacks, which is nowhere near the production any team would expect from an edge rusher taken in the top ten. This is one of those trades that screams “bust,” especially when you look at what the Raiders got back and how quietly the deal got done.
The move was caused in part by the abundance of edge rushers the Raiders now have, especially with defensive end Maxx Crosby in the fold for what looks like the long haul now. We’ll never know exactly what happened with Wilson, but it’s fairly obvious he got caught up in the wave of ill-fated coaching changes from Josh McDaniels to Antonio Pierce to Pete Carroll.
The trade also speaks to the development process of the Raiders as a whole, i.e., do they actually have one? Young players come and go on a seemingly random basis with Las Vegas, and there are very few examples of draft picks who have been developed properly, stuck around and improved.
Changing this will be one of the biggest challenges for coach Klint Kubiak and GM John Spytek, and they’re facing overwhelming odds when it comes to succeeding. There’s no way anyone can look at the Raiders’ current list of draft additions after the pick for quarterback Fernando Mendoza and say, “yeah, this guy’s gonna make it for XYZ reasons.”
Plenty of other players like Wilson will be on the chopping block between now and the end of camp, and it will be fascinating to once again see who stays and who goes.