Raiders' Tyree Wilson Reflects on Rookie Season

Las Vegas Raiders rookie Tyree Wilson felt his development come along in his debut season.

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Tyree Wilson had a unique rookie season, to say the least. 

The Raiders selected Wilson with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Texas Tech. The 6-foot-6, 276-pound rookie started the year recovering from an offseason foot surgery. 

As a result, his development was stunted, and he came along slowly, not producing the numbers he -- or Raider Nation -- would have wanted to see. 

But Wilson knows this. He is now healthy and has the opportunity to put in the work in the offseason to develop his skill set. 

Wilson reflected on his rookie season when he joined star teammate Maxx Crosby on the latest episode of his podcast, "The Rush with Maxx Crosby."

“I come in, top-10 pick, so it’s a lot of expectations on me," Wilson said. “The organization needed me right away, but they held me out. I didn’t get to go to OTAs; I’m trying to learn the playbook, and I learn better by doing s--- on the field. Then, going into the last two weeks of training camp, they released me to start practicing, and it was catch-up. I played about 12 snaps in the preseason game, and I was done.

“Then, here Denver was, and I played like a--. The outside noise was kind of creeping in. I just had to put my head down and check myself and stop worrying about who the f--- and what the f--- other people had to say, go out there and grind every day.”

Wilson also credited the culture in the defensive line room as a significant benefit to his rookie season. 

“The room that we built this year, people didn’t really give a f--- about last week," he said. "We only focused on the next week and trying to get better as a group. [Coach Antonio Pierce] coming in there and letting everybody play free, that really helped me boost my ego back and start building that confidence. You can see it on tape with me starting to take off.”

Wilson finished his rookie season with 29 total tackles, two for a loss, eight quarterback hits, and 3.5 sacks. He will look to build on his game this offseason and have an improved sophomore campaign in 2024. 

Click here to watch the entire podcast episode with Crosby, Wilson, and more Raiders defensive linemen.

The NFL Draft will be held in Detroit, Mich., on April 25-27, 2024. The Las Vegas Raiders currently have the No. 13 overall pick.

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