The Las Vegas Raiders haven’t had much in the way of good news on offense lately, especially considering how offensive that unit truly was against the Denver Broncos last week.
There is a bright spot, however. Receiver Tre Tucker was identified as the Raiders breakout player in the latest power rankings of The Athletic from Josh Kendall and Chad Graff, with the second-year player continuing his impressive development.
Tucker now leads the team with 34 catches for 455 yards and four touchdowns. That’s less than 100 yards from a career high for Tucker, and he’s already topped his previous total for touchdowns.
Tucker is also dealing with more than his share of uncertainty. He inherited the top receiver spot when fellow receiver Jakobi Meyers was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, and quarterback Geno Smith’s issues with interceptions has made it tough for anyone to catch downfield throws.
Now there’s uncertainty at quarterback as well. No one knows if Smith will be sufficiently recovered from the quad bruise he sustained during last week’s brutal 10-7 loss to the Denver Broncos last week, and Smith also has an injury clause that will almost certainly lead to his benching if the Raiders decide to move on from him as expected.
That means quarterback Kenny Pickett would be next up, which will make it even tougher for Tucker to make downfield plays. Pickett is the definition of a shaky backup QB who relies on short, dink-and-dunk throws at this point in his career, which will further hinder Tucker's development. He'll get that yardage mark, but it could take him a painful number of games to get there.
Which is too bad, because "development" is definitely the watchword for Las Vegas for the rest of the season. Receiver Tyler Lockett was signed to take Meyers place before the Denver game, and he’ll likely be a Pickett favorite going forward, along with now-healthy tight end Brock Bowers. But given that the Raiders’ other young receiver, Dont’e Thornton Jr., has caught just six balls to date, that could mean Thornton actually draws extensive coverage as the team’s only real downfield option.
As for those power rankings, the less said the better. The Raiders dropped from 26th to 28th this week, which means they’re ahead of only the New York Jets, New York Giants and Cleveland Browns. And as Jets, Giants and Browns fans will quickly tell you, that’s a pretty miserable place to be.