The Raiders feel really good about their starting wide receivers. Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers are one of the league’s top duos, and they complement each other very well. The No. 3 job is Tre Tucker’s, but he is one of the biggest wildcards of the entire offense.
Tucker had a solid rookie season, racking up over 300 receiving yards on just 34 targets. But drops were an issue for him all season as he could have had a much bigger year. Unfortunately, that issue hasn’t been solved yet early in camp.
In a recent article by Vic Tafur of The Athletic, he wrote about Tucker’s performance during Thursday practice and the numerous drop issues that he had. Here is a snippet of his thoughts on the second-year receiver from Cincinnati:
Tucker’s two drops came on a would-be touchdown during a seven-on-seven red zone period and a would-be first down during an 11-on-11 red zone drill.
He impressed his coaches and teammates with his electric speed, improved physique and sharpened route running, but holding onto the ball — and making sure he gets his feet inbounds on catches toward the sidelines and back of the end zone — gave him issues as a rookie.
A couple of practice drops aren’t anything to overreact to, but he’ll need to improve there to make a Year 2 leap.
Tucker has game-breaking speed and his ability to stretch the field is something no other player on the roster can do. But if the drop issues continue, he’ll have a hard time seeing the field in Year 2.
We are only a few days into camp, so there is nothing to stress about yet. But it is frustrating that Tucker hasn’t been able to fix this issue yet.
