Who Should I Start? Tre Tucker or Devaughn Vele

Saturday, February 14, 9:29 AM

Las Vegas wide receiver Tre Tucker has seen his average depth of target drop precipitously through each of his first three seasons in the league, leaving many questioning whether the Raiders have truly taken advantage of his 4.4 speed. With incoming head coach Klint Kubiak coming off a Super Bowl season with Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba, he'll need to rely more on scheme than personnel if he hopes to succeed in his early days in Las Vegas. Kubiak employed rookie Tory Horton sparingly but effectively as a downfield weapon in Seattle, but he was not able to strike the same chord with fellow speedster Rashid Shaheed following a midseason trade. The Raiders offense will presumably run through tight end Brock Bowers and running back Ashton Jeanty, but Tucker still profiles as Vegas' de facto number one receiver. Hints of how Kubiak elects to use him should come as early as free agency and the draft, but Tucker will be an intriguing name to monitor heading into 2026 training camps.

Friday, December 19, 2:45 PM

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Devaughn Vele (shoulder) has been placed on injured reserve, ending his season before the team's Week 16 matchup with the Jets. Vele suffered the season-ending shoulder injury during the fourth quarter of a Week 15 win over the Panthers and had already been ruled out for Sunday. Vele had established a strong rapport with rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, regularly seeing target shares in the high-teens to mid-20s, and his absence should see tight end Juwan Johnson step in as the team's number two pass-catching option behind Chris Olave. Olave, who has seen double-digit targets only once since Shough took over as starter, but has found the endzone in three of his last five games, could once again see the type of heavy volume that defined his early season and is RotoBaller's WR11 for Week 16.