The Las Vegas Raiders are selling hope, and it’s an easy sell.
Ashton Jeanty rushed for 975 yards as a rookie in 2025, and now the arithmetic is being done for us: seven more carries at his same 3.66 yards per carry clip, and he clears 1,000. Still, milestones built on addition rather than improvement are fragile.
The Raiders are banking on Tyler Linderbaum’s arrival at center to open holes and Mike Washington Jr.’s presence to manage Jeanty’s workload, two legitimate upgrades. However, 266 carries on a 22-year-old is a weight-bearing load, and the NFL has a long memory for backs who absorbed that kind of rookie punishment and plateaued early.
The Jeanty optimism is earned. The Tre Tucker optimism requires more scrutiny.
Honest expectations for Tre Tucker…
Tucker posted 696 receiving yards in 2025, a genuine progression from 539 the year prior. Credit is due. But two of his three best games last season came when Brock Bowers missed Weeks 5 through 8 with a knee injury. A No. 1 target’s absence inflating a No. 2’s numbers is not a breakout. It’s a gap-fill.
The projection of 760 yards and six touchdowns in 2026 assumes Tucker takes another comparable leap while Bowers stays healthy and Las Vegas adds viable weapons in Jalen Nailor and Malik Benson. That’s a lot of moving parts falling into place. Especially for a receiver who has yet to produce at that level with a full, healthy cast around him.
Related: Raiders rookie Treydan Stukes is quietly reshaping the Vegas secondary
The quarterback question hangs over all of it. Fernando Mendoza or Kirk Cousins, one an unproven rookie and the other a 37-year-old coming off a torn ACL, are not exactly settled propositions at the most important position on the field. Las Vegas is projecting a productive passing attack before anyone knows who is actually running it.
What the Raiders have is momentum, draft capital well-spent and a believable blueprint. What they do not have yet is proof that Tucker is a legitimate No. 2 option rather than a comfortable No. 3 or that Jeanty can sustain his efficiency once defenses have a full offseason of film on him.
Optimism is warranted in Las Vegas. Certainty is not.
*Top Photo: Ramble Illustration/Getty Images