![\"tyree](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2234155463.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Las Vegas Raiders DE Tyree Wilson.<\/p>\n
When the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> used the No. 7 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft on defensive end Tyree Wilson<\/a>, the hope was that he\u2019d be the perfect running mate for Maxx Crosby<\/a>. Unfortunately, he got off to a very slow start to his rookie season and hasn\u2019t made the type of progress the team hoped he would.<\/p>\n On paper, he\u2019s the ideal defensive end. He\u2019s 6-foot-6 with a ridiculously long reach. He\u2019s also very strong. His problem has been that he has trouble getting off the line of scrimmage quickly enough, and he\u2019s not great at using his hands.<\/p>\n Wilson hasn\u2019t been able to carve out a big role, but he\u2019s been somewhat productive, notching 12 sacks and 16 tackles for loss in three seasons. This offseason, the Raiders have to decide whether or not they\u2019re going to exercise the fifth-year option on his contract.<\/p>\n It seems unlikely that they\u2019ll guarantee him a fifth season, as the Raiders would have to pay him $14.475 million. CBS Sports\u2019 Joel Corry<\/a> predicts that the team will decline his option.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t expect the Raiders to pick up Wilson\u2019s option,\u201d Corry wrote. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t done much to live up to his draft position. Wilson has only started seven of the 50 games he has played in his three NFL seasons and generated just 12 sacks.\u201d<\/p>\n Can Wilson Still Become an Impact Player?<\/p>\n Despite being a top-10 pick, Wilson has seemingly been an afterthought for the Raiders through his first three seasons. The team promoted Rob Leonard to defensive coordinator this offseason, who has been Wilson\u2019s defensive line coach for his entire career.<\/p>\n It will be very telling if Leonard decides not to give him a lot of snaps. He should know Wilson much better than any coach on the staff.<\/p>\n It would be massive for the Raiders if Wilson finally became a consistent impact player. They used a very valuable pick on him. Wilson hasn\u2019t been terrible, but he hasn\u2019t looked like a top-10 pick. There were pundits arguing that he was a better prospect than Will Anderson, who has 30.0 sacks with the Houston Texans<\/a> through three seasons. Wilson will never be that good, but if he could get five to 10 sacks in 2026, he might be able to get another contract.<\/p>\n Wilson Faces Competition<\/p>\n Wilson isn\u2019t going to have an easy time getting more snaps this season. The team gave a solid contract to defensive end Kwity Paye<\/a> in free agency and re-signed Malcolm Koonce.<\/p>\n Wilson may be the fourth or fifth defensive end in the rotation. The Raiders have tried him out at defensive tackle a bit, so perhaps he could take more snaps there.<\/p>\n This is going to be a pivotal offseason for him. If he can\u2019t prove that he belongs in the defensive line rotation, the Raiders could consider trading or cutting him before he even gets to free agency. If Wilson isn\u2019t going to rush the passer effectively, proving to be an impact run defender would help him a lot. It\u2019s just hard to imagine that a player with his size, length and talent can\u2019t make a bigger impact.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAustin Boyd<\/a> has covered the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Lakers for Heavy.com since 2019. A Los Angeles native now based in Las Vegas, his featured work at Heavy includes interviews with NFL stars Darren Waller and Joe Montana, and a behind-the-scenes look at “The Shop.” More about Austin Boyd<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Raiders\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Las Vegas Raiders DE Tyree Wilson. When the Las Vegas Raiders used the No. 7 pick in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[7,1744,393,2455,2454,6,525],"class_list":{"0":"post-867862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-las-vegas","10":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","11":"tag-lasvegas","12":"tag-lasvegasraiders","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-raiders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116415785932685659","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}