The Las Vegas Raiders' young secondary struggled during their first preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals. Klint Kubiak and defensive coordinator Rob Leonard challenged them to play man coverage in the opener, but they didn’t turn in the best results.
So, last Thursday against the Houston Texans, the coaching staff changed direction. The Raiders went to more zone coverage and exotic looks to help confuse the Texans' offense, and one of the key beneficiaries of this change was Treydan Stukes.
Stukes was brought in as a versatile player for the Raiders' secondary, as he spent time at nickel and free safety for the Arizona Wildcats in college. He's been developing well during training camp, and in the second preseason game, fans got to see him play at both positions.
And that experiment, by all accounts, was a resounding success. He recorded three total tackles, including one for a loss, and a hit on the quarterback on a blitz. Raider Nation got a chance to see what Stukes could be on an NFL field, as well as which position he looks most natural at.
Raiders' Treydan Stukes looks more natural at free safety
While Stukes did play snaps at nickel on defense, he looked like a natural NFL deep safety last Thursday in Houston. He came up and made several key tackles that helped the Raiders get the Texans off the field.
One of his best plays was on a play-action bootleg run by the Houston Texans. Stukes is a deep safety pre-snap and starts to flow with a wide zone play-action fake. The former Arizona Wildcat recognizes the bootleg action and quickly attacks upfield.
The play ends in a tackle for loss with Stukes making a great open-field tackle.
Fans also got to see a side of Stukes that was not necessarily put on film during his time in college. He exhibited his ability to be a big hitter coming down from the secondary.
On the play below, the Houston Texans are running a wide receiver screen. It’s third down, and the receiver has good blocking in front of him. Stukes doesn't do a great job reading the play and getting downfield. He lays a big hit on the wide receiver, forcing the Texans to kick a field goal.
In the final example, we see Stukes' ability to blitz from the slot. On this third-down play, Stukes shows his explosiveness by blitzing with great timing. The pressure forces Davis Mills to throw the ball earlier than he wants to, leading to an incompletion.
The player Raider Nation saw on Thursday is the player John Spytek expected when he drafted him in the second round. If Stukes can continue to grow in Rob Leonard's system, he will be on the field sooner rather than later.
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