The Raiders traded Tyree Wilson for a fifth-round pick on Saturday, and while the trade didn’t necessarily come as a surprise, The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen doesn’t believe the Raiders were trying to trade their former first round pick.
“I don’t know if Tyree was on a trade block. It seems like the Saints just really wanted a defensive end,” Nguyen said on the Just Win podcast on Monday.
“[The Saints] tried to trade for Kayvon Thibodeaux and the Giants said ‘No.’ And then I think what happened is they went to the Raiders and asked them to trade Tyree. And I think at that point, the Raiders brass was just like, ‘We have Crawford now, we have another defensive end in a mix, and it just makes sense to try to see recoup some draft capital and maybe he’ll do better in a different environment.’”
The Raiders might not have been looking to trade Wilson, but based on Wilson’s comments on Monday, it sounds like the team had been working on a deal well before the draft. Wilson talked to New Orleans media after the deal was finalized and said the sides had been trying to get a deal done “for a while.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘need,’ but I wanted a change of scenery,” Wilson told reporters on April 27.
“I love Vegas, love the people, love the opportunities in Vegas, but I feel like it wasn’t off to the best start, and pretty much there’s always a change in coaches every year and I feel like here in New Orleans, the trend is going upward, and I’m grateful to be here, grateful for the opportunity… You want stability. You want people that value, you want to value people.”
“I feel like this is a place that values me and other guys like me in the room and on the defense. I’m grateful that this opportunity came, and now it’s just time to get to work and make things happen.”
Dave Ziegler’s one and only first-round pick is officially a swing and miss.
Wilson hasn’t been a big talking point this week, but Sports Illustrated’s Hondo Carpenter said former Raiders’ GM Dave Ziegler can no longer have the benefit of the doubt on Wilson.
“I said to all of you that we would we that we would judge Dave Ziegler on the pick of Tyree Wilson after four years, because the Raiders knew year one was a redshirt. That was their mindset. They had told us [his] rookie year was a was a redshirt,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast on Sunday.
“So I said [we are] going to rate him after year four. Well, you just basically dumped him essentially for a cup of coffee. It was a bad pick. He was injured. You knew he was injured. You thought he was fine. You rolled the dice. [It] didn’t work. That’s fine. That happens. But when you fail at first round picks, it’s why you don’t stay employed.”
x: @raidersbeat
It was the completely wrong pick at the time and everyday after was the proof. Luckily McDaniels only had 2 drafts to himself. It’s no wonder the team has been as pathetic as it has been. Between the last draft of Reggie ( others weren’t great either except 2014 which was outstanding) and all the years of Gruden picking one bust after another ( thankfully Mayock was able to find a few gems in the other rounds and was able to convince Gruden to select Josh Jacobs) and follow those up with McDaniels and Telesco’s ( at least Bowers has had a good start) and then following those up with a small school, small RB at #6 overall and the other misses from last year. Again it’s no wonder why the team has a pathic roster. Good luck Tyree maybe you should work on your quickness so you can remain in the league a few more years.