After being drafted with the 7th-overall pick in 2023, all eyes in Las Vegas are on Tyree Wilson entering his third NFL season and according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, the Raiders have been using Wilson a little differently through the first week of training camp.
Last year, Wilson moved around the defensive line during the regular season, but only 50 of his 524 defensive snaps were at defensive tackle, according to Pro Football Focus.
This year, it sounds like that number could jump a little.
“Tyree Wilson has had a great camp,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“I had a chance to talk to Tyree about expectations when the Raiders picked him, and you’ve heard me say ad nauseam, they wanted year one to be a red shirt year. They had no expectations on him. Then year two, he was just getting healthy. He’s having a great camp.”
“It is really interesting. Again, I can’t give away any schematics, but it is very interesting the way that [defensive coordinator] Patrick Graham and [defensive line coach] Rob Leonard are using him. They are putting him all over the field. You know, along the line of scrimmage.”
Last week, Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers talked about the potential for Wilson to fill some of the void left by Christian Wilkins, and it sounds like that’s an idea the coaching staff is taking a hard look at in training camp.
Myers referenced a series of comments from Maxx Crosby and even before Wilkins was released, it sounds like the Raiders were scheming Wilson a little differently this year.
“It sounded like… when Maxx Crosby was talking about the defensive line, he had mentioned that Tyree is getting some looks inside,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders podcast. “So he had already kind of hinted at that, but then [Maxx] cleaned it up and said, ‘Well, you know, he’s got some looks inside the last couple of seasons.’”
“But that stood out to me when Maxx said that, and that’s when he met with us on Wednesday following practice, to the point where Paul Gutierrez was standing next to me, and I kind of looked at him like, ‘Wait, did you just catch that too?’” Myers continued. “The way he said it, and then he cleaned it up. Maxx knows the media game, right?”
“He’s got the podcast, he’s in the media all the time. So he knows when, if you say something, I’ll say, ‘Hey man, I got to clean that up a little bit’ or whatever. So that did stand out to me.”
Oh, come on… He was a 5 year college player, and on the older side for a first round prospect. He played consistently as a rookie. And if year 2 was a “just getting healthy” season that’s 2 wasted seasons from a to 10 pick. Isn’t it now likely at this point that he just isn’t that good, and that taking him #7 overall was a bad decision?
Best of luck to him. By all accounts, he has a good attitude and has done his best to improve. I hope it works out for him, but I think expectations should be low if we’re being realistic.
Strong, slow and not a lot of fire in the belly.
Maybe they find a niche role for him.