The Las Vegas Raiders are no strangers to drafting some major busts at the top of the NFL Draft, especially on the defensive side of the ball. However, just a few years after the Clelin Ferrell mess, the Raiders may have picked someone with an even less enticing ceiling in the NFL in former Texas Tech pass rusher Tyree Wilson, who was recently dumped on the New Orleans Saints.
On their NFL Stock Exchange podcast, Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers ranked all 95 first-round picks in the last three years, grading them on both how well they performed for the team who drafted them and the capital used on them. Wilson ranked 94th, and the only one below him, Atlanta's James Pearce Jr, was only there due to his off-field concerns.
The pair were more complementary of Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty. The former was a Top 10 pick in both their eyes (No. 8 for Rogers, No. 5 for Sikkema), while the latter was slotted 51st by Rogers and 62nd by Sikkema despite a down rookie season. The Wilson pick, however, was a titanic miss for the Raiders' front office.
NFL Stock Exchange says Raiders' Tyree Wilson pick was second-worst of last 3 years
At 6-5 with comic book character strength and wingspan, Wilson has all the traits defensive coaches could want in a bigger edge rusher. The problem stems from the fact that Wilson is neither a good enough athlete to beat NFL-level tackles on speed alone nor in possession of a deep bag of pass rush moves.
Raiders fans saw flashes from Wilson, but he completely flatlined in the NFL. Wilson recorded between 3.5 and 4.5 sacks in each of his three seasons, and with just 16 tackles for loss in 50 games, his lack of penetration was a fatal flaw for one of the worst defenses in the AFC.
The Raiders have given up trying to make one of Dave Ziegler's old draft picks work. Instead, they pivoted to drafting Keyron Crawford in the third round and spending a good chunk of free agency change on former top Colts pick Kwity Paye. Wilson will end up in New Orleans, where he won't be guaranteed much of anything.
Las Vegas is at the bottom of the league's standings due to how often failed GMs of yesteryear whiffed in the Draft, and there may be no pick that set this team up for failure more than Wilson proving to be a subpar pass rusher.
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