The idea that the Las Vegas Raiders would trade wide receiver Jakobi Meyers lingered from when he asked for a trade late in the preseason all the way to when he was sent to the Jacksonville Jaguars at the trade deadline. With Meyers' departure, however, came greater opportunity for others.
In particular, Tre Tucker immediately became the proverbial WR1 for the Raiders. He had scored and/or topped 50 receiving yards in four of eight games with Meyers in the fold, and the rapport he built with Geno Smith going back to training camp had a chance to come to its fullest bloom.
Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles was the Raiders' sixth game since Meyers was traded. No one looked good, as the offense was shut out and netted just 75 total yards. But Tucker was an absolute non-factor, finishing with zero catches on three targets.
Raiders have to face a harsh reality when it comes to Tre Tucker
Over those six games as the Raiders' No. 1 wide receiver, Tucker has now failed to get to 30 receiving yards five times, and his streak of falling short of that low-water yardage mark is at four in a row. He just hasn't thrived with more attention being allocated his way.
Take away a touchdown in his best game of the post-Meyers stretch, Week 11 against the Dallas Cowboys, and that outing wouldn't look very good either, as he finished with just four catches for 47 yards against one of the league's weakest defenses.
While requisite production didn't follow, due in great part to shoddy play from Smith, Tucker did draw WR1-level target volume for a short spell, with 18 total targets in Week 11 and Week 12. Even that has not held up, however, with only 11 targets over the subsequent three games now.
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As Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers have proven over and over, no skill position player is immune to being dragged down by the top-to-bottom ineptitude of the Raiders' offense this season. A rare section of wide receivers can overcome bad quarterback play,
But bad doesn't begin to describe what the Raiders have gotten from Smith and now Kenny Pickett this year. Meyers' getting traded set Tucker up for a rest-of-season trial run as a top passing game option for the Raiders. That it has gone so poorly is not entirely Tucker's fault.
However, it has also been unequivocally proven, barring an out-of-nowhere surge from here on out, that Tucker is best-suited to be a secondary option going against coverage that is not the best the opponent can offer.
And, yes, there is absolutely a viable place for someone like that in the Raiders' offense as fans start looking toward next season. But Tucker is far from the No. 1 wideout fans hoped that he would turn into after Meyers' departure, and based on how he started the season. It's time to face that reality.