The Las Vegas Raiders are a mess. From top to bottom, they have no direction, seemingly spending every six months fixing the issues they themselves made six months prior. They went all-in to get Davante Adams to play with his BFF, Derek Carr. They then unceremoniously benched Derek Carr to see what they had in Jarrett Stidham, who signed with Denver in the offseason. But that’s okay because they signed Jimmy Garoppolo, who they had to rework the contract of because he failed a physical. Also, they now have Tom Brady as a part-owner of the team. There’s a universe where Davante Adams, who came to Vegas to play with Derek Carr, will be on his fourth quarterback when the season starts, and that QB is Hall of Famer Tom Brady. Oh, and on top of this, they declined Josh Jacobs’ fifth-year option, tagged him, and currently have no succession plan. So, if he does well, they’re stuck bidding for his services without a backup plan. Also, they traded star tight end Darren Waller because he hurt head coach Josh McDaniels’ feelings. Everything about this team’s offense is completely wild. With no first-round selection this year, the Raiders took a tight end in the second round, following it up with a wide receiver at pick 100 and a quarterback at pick 135. All told, these are ranges where you generally don’t find fantasy-relevant players in their rookie campaigns. Will these guys break the mold? Let’s dive in.
(spoiler: the answer is “probably not.”)
FULL 2023 LAS VEGAS RAIDERS DRAFT RESULTS
| Rnd. | Pick No. | Player | Pos. | College |
| 2 | 35 | Michael Mayer | TE | Notre Dame |
| 3 | 70 | Byron Young | DT | Alabama |
| 3 | 100 | Tre Tucker | WR | Cincinnati |
| 4 | 104 | Jakorian Bennett | CB | Maryland |
| 4 | 135 | Aidan O’Connell | QB | Purdue |
| 5 | 170 | Christopher Smith II | S | Georgia |
| 6 | 203 | Amari Burney | LB | Florida |
| 7 | 231 | Nesta Jade Silvera | DT | Arizona State |
Round 2, Pick 35 Overall: Michael Mayer, Tight End, Notre Dame (6’4” 249 pounds)
TALENT
Michael Mayer is an insanely good tight end prospect who the Fighting Irish used all over the formation in college. He’s a great blocker, as well as an impeccable pass catcher and yards after catch force. The easy current NFL comparison for him is George Kittle, but he isn’t as sudden or fluid as Kittle, who is special in both those areas and the reason why he’s so good. He is just slightly more lumbering, which isn’t a slight on Mayer at all, it just makes him less of a George Kittle than a lot of people want to say. He’s the best TE in the class, and he gets a Hall of Fame comparison… Jason Witten.
2023 OPPORTUNITY
The Raiders traded Darren Waller and let Foster Moreau sign with New Orleans this offseason, turning the frequently-used position in the offense over to the rookie, Mayer. Unfortunately, rookie tight ends struggle to produce their rookie season, with just Kyle Pitts and Evan Engram finishing inside the top ten in their rookie years in the last 30 seasons. The Raiders, on paper, appear to target tight ends a significant amount of the time. But, that was literally just Darren Waller. To whit, in the games last season without Waller (who averaged 4.6 targets per game), Moreau had only 2.4 targets per game. Without Waller, I am unsure if the Raiders will have the tight end as a core part of their target volume.
However, they sort of have to, right? Sure, they have Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, and Jakobi Meyers to throw the ball to, but other than that (and I’m not so sure how much of a value add Jakobi Meyers is), who can they throw it to other than Mayer?
2023 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Mayer has an opportunity to be a third rookie tight end to have a viable fantasy season in my lifetime. Unfortunately, I believe the offense has a better chance of being completely non-functional, instead. We don’t know who their quarterback will be at this point, and the best-case scenario is Jimmy Garoppolo. I love Mayer as a talent, and he’s someone that I want to keep an eye on, but I am not drafting him in my fantasy football leagues.
TALENT
2023 OPPORTUNITY
2023 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Round 3, Pick 100 Overall: Tre Tucker, Wide Receiver, Cincinnati (5’9” 182 pounds)
TALENT
There are certain red flags that I get for players, and Tre Tucker gets one big one: he has no “Tre Tucker vs.” cutups on YouTube, only highlight reels. That’s a massive red flag for me because there are cutups for nearly everybody. It’s hard for me to not find one for a guy taken in round five, let alone round three.
But, watching that highlight reel, I get why there aren’t a lot of cut-ups. Tucker is all athleticism and no technique. His catching is suspect, his body awareness is difficult to understand, and he feels a lot like a gadget and return guy in the NFL… that the Raiders took in the third round. I mean, I get it. They don’t have a lot of speed in the receiving corps outside of Davante Adams. But this was a massive reach, and given his common size and speed combo, I truly don’t understand why the Raiders took him when they did.
2023 OPPORTUNITY
He’s small and fast, and is, at best, a copy of a copy of a copy of Henry Ruggs (though I doubt he leaves the NFL under the same circumstances). He’s going to get a bunch of pop passes, screen passes, and slants that give him a chance to break long plays, but I doubt he gets enough of those to matter on a sustained basis. There’s also the problem that these types of passes open him up to getting absolutely creamed by guys with over 100 pounds on him, which would make his availability suspect, to say the least.
2023 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
One-in-five wide receivers drafted in the first two days of the draft finish inside the top-36 in fantasy football their rookie year. It feels like a lot more, but that’s because we forget about guys who don’t make it. Let’s just say that Tre Tucker is in the majority, here.
TALENT
2023 OPPORTUNITY
2023 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Round 4, Pick 135 Overall: Aidan O’Connell, Quarterback, Purdue (6’3” 213 pounds)
TALENT
Aidan O’Connell is Jared Goff. That’s the long and the short of it. He plays exactly like Goff, he has the same strengths and weaknesses, and he goes as far as the team will carry him. At Purdue, he made hay on short, quick passes to his weapons, who did the hard work for him. He struggles with a collapsing pocket, but he makes smart, quick, accurate passes to make up for it. Unfortunately, that’s the only real value add that O’Connell has. He doesn’t have a strong arm, lacks patience, and stares down receivers. I’m not particularly enthused by O’Connell, but he could put a few strong fantasy games together this season with Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs carrying the load, should he get the opportunity.
2023 OPPORTUNITY
Given that Jimmy Garoppolo is the World’s Most Injured Man, and that he’s already on ice thanks to foot surgery, there’s a decent chance that we see Aidan O’Connell this season. Granted, on paper, Brian Hoyer is the QB2, but at this point, he’s more of a player-coach than someone you want under center on any given Sunday. That means that O’Connell will have a chance to start at least a game this season.
2023 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
You don’t draft someone on the idea that they could have a chance to start a minimal number of games this year. Brock Purdy set the world on fire last year, but you’re going to go broke trying to bet on the next Brock Purdy.
