The second year leap is real. Whether or not it happens can often be the difference between a successful NFL player and a bust. The Raiders are seeing signs of the former from 2023 third round pick, Tre Tucker.
“I don’t want to set the stage too high for him, but I think he’s already done it. Tre Tucker,” Pierce said of the young wideout making that year two leap. “I think you saw it in the preseason, we saw it in OTAs, in minicamp. He’s just been Steady Eddy. And then he got to the preseason, and he did exactly what we’ve been seeing in practice.”
Speed was what Tucker was known for coming out of Cincinnati. But his hands needed some work. That’s one of the things he set about fixing. And it has clearly been working.
Tucker had his teammates and coaches raving about how much he’d improved over the offseason. A bit part of that was getting Lasik eye surgery. But he had also bulked up and had been working on his game.
Once the preseason arrived, he exploded onto the scene. He lit up both of the games in which he appeared, catching several long passes in each game as well as a couple long punt returns.
“If he can continue that, that’s going to help us big time because obviously he can run by a lot of corners and safeties in this league,” Pierce continued. “Man, when you got a guy that runs a 4.2 and create those explosive plays, that makes those DBs back up a little bit more. You’re going to play him a little differently than you play everybody else.”
Suddenly the Raiders look like they have one of the better wide receiver trios in the league with Tucker alongside Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers. Each of whom could help open things up for each other. Either defenses will account for Tucker or risk getting burnt.
Now to hope that Gardner Minshew can make the most of it.