Tre Tucker Staking Claim To Being Las Vegas' True WR1

Truth be told, until Las Vegas Raiders' tight end Brock Bowers decides to wrap up his Hall of Fame career in 15 years or so, he will likely remain the No. 1 target for the team's quarterbacks, with the Raiders hoping that includes 10 or more years with Fernando Mendoza calling the signals.

In the here and now, though, current QB Kirk Cousins, when he isn't searching out Bowers, may have found a security blanket 1B in fourth-year wide receiver Tre Tucker.

While the Raiders suffered their third consecutive defeat on Sunday, 33-30 to the Buffalo Bills, it was through no fault of Tucker's.

For the game, he finished with five catches for 97 yards. His two biggest grabs came when he hauled in an 11-yard TD toss from Cousins that knotted the game 23-23 with 8:07 to play, before he beat the Buffalo secondary to snare a 44-yard scoring pass that pulled the Raiders within 33-30 with 1:32 remaining.

Though Buffalo would recover an onside kick and run out the remaining time in the Raiders' three-point loss, Cousins had to leave the game with growing faith in Tucker's ability to become his go-to wideout.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, Tucker is the only wideout who has answered the bell through the season's first six weeks.

They signed erstwhile Minnesota Viking Jalen Nailor as a free agent with the hopes that he could be a defense spreader, but in five games (he missed Week 5 with a concussion) he has six receptions for 61 yards. Cody White has had his moments as he's turned seven receptions into three touchdowns, but on Sunday Nailor and White combined for one catch and nine yards on six targets against the Bills. No other Raiders' receiver was even targeted in the game.

That's to be expected when Bowers and fellow tight end Michael Mayer are so obviously the focal point of the Las Vegas passing game; on Sunday they had a combined 11 catches for 165 yards on 18 targets.

But that doesn't mean that Tucker doesn't need some help on the outside.

Through six games, he has 24 receptions for 371 yards with three TDs, a 17-game pace of 68 catches, 1,051 yards and nine scores, with a workable average depth of target (aDOT) of 10.6 yards. Tucker also has three catches of 40-plus yards this season, tied for the most in the NFL.

The other six receivers that have seen the field for the Raiders so far this season - Nailor, White, Jack Bech, Dareke Young, Deven Thompkins and Malik Benson - have a combined 23 catches, 273 yards and four touchdowns on 49 targets, for an anemic aDOT of 5.6 yards.

The simple fact is that with an upcoming schedule featuring the likes of the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos, the Raiders are going to need someone to at least join the blossoming Tucker as a viable target for Cousins or else they will face some more disappointing Sundays.