Raiders' Jakobi Meyers trade was ultimate stamp of approval for Tre Tucker

With Jakobi Meyers gone, Tre Tucker's place in Las Vegas' passing game pecking order is solidly elevated.
Tennessee Titans v Las Vegas Raiders
Tennessee Titans v Las Vegas Raiders | Christian Petersen/GettyImages

A move has been brewing since he asked to be traded before the season, and on deadline day, the Las Vegas Raiders got it done, sending wide receiver Jakobi Meyers to the Jacksonville Jaguars for two Day 3 draft picks. Meyers' departure leaves the Raiders' wide receiver room looking like this:

Tre Tucker
Tyler Lockett
Jack Bech
Dont'e Thornton Jr.
Alex Bachman

Tucker has built his rapport with quarterback Geno Smith going back to training camp, which fueled some breakout buzz around him going into the season. His actual production has been hit-or-miss so far though, with four games of over receiving 50 yards and four games under 40 receiving yards.

Tre Tucker is Raiders' new WR1, and fantasy managers should take note

In the game Meyers missed for the Raiders this season, Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Tucker had six targets on Smith's 16 pass attempts. This is a 37.5 percent target share, which would be the second-highest among wide receivers for the full season.

If the offense could have stayed on the field at all, double-digit targets were inevitable. The Raiders should have no hesitation to put rookie wide receivers Bech and Thornton on the field plenty with Meyers gone, but Tucker now stands as the clear-cut No. 1 wide receiver on a pass-heavy team.

Week 3 against the Washington Commanders was an obvious boom game for Tucker, as he recorded 9 catches for 145 yards and 3 touchdowns. This kind of serious production and big-play ability surely caught the eye of the Raiders' front office, and made Meyers expendable, to an extent.

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Las Vegas trading Meyers is the ultimate stamp of approval for Tucker, even though he has finished as a top-36 fantasy wide receiver only three other times in 2025. If he had corralled the touchdown he just missed in Week 9, it would be four other times where finished as a low-end WR2 or flex option.

With Meyers gone, the wide range of weekly outcomes for Tucker is greatly diminished. Tight end Brock Bowers is clearly the No. 1 option in the Raiders' passing game when healthy, but Tucker should be unchecked as the No. 2 option. As Meyers showed last season, that role can bare solid fantasy fruit.

As it pertains to Las Vegas, however, the regime is finally investing in young players like Tucker, Bech and Thornton. Given that the latter two have not produced much this season, the Raiders' front office is making a gamble on Tucker by trading Meyers, and it shouldn't be long until they can cash in.

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