With Davante Adams now gone, the Las Vegas Raiders have a hole at wide receiver that they aren’t likely to get filled this season. Adams is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL so Las Vegas won’t find a comparable replacement.
For now, they’re going to give a player who has been on the practice squad a chance. The Raiders announced that they’ve signed Alex Bachman to the active roster.
https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1847729511884046565
Bachman has been in the NFL since 2019 and has played in seven games. However, this is actually the first time he’s ever been signed to an active NFL roster. According to him, no player has ever spent more years on a practice squad than he has.
“6 years of work, pain, and patience. Longest Tenured Psquad player of all time and I’ll wear that like a badge of honor. Just keep working. Stay Relentless. Thank You Father,” Bachman wrote on X.
Most players are either out of the NFL or get a chance to be on an active roster before they spend six years on a practice squad. Bachman has the biggest opportunity of his career and the Raiders need a wide receiver to step up. It remains to be seen what kind of role he’ll have but he did have three catches in Week 6 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tre Tucker Ready to Step Up
Wide receivers lower on the depth chart have a great opportunity with Adams gone but the Raiders really need their top wide receivers to step up. Tre Tucker is the only starting wide receiver who is healthy right now but he was shut out against the Steelers.
He’s got game-breaking speed but the Raiders don’t have a quarterback who can air the ball out deep. The team needs Tucker to get open on shorter and intermediate routes. He believes that he’s ready to step up.
“I always tell my coaches: ‘It’s not what you do, it’s the people you get to do it with,’ and he was one of those guys,” Tucker told reporters this week. “He’s taught me a lot. That’s one of the things that I told him after I talked to him — I said, ‘I appreciate you.’ I feel like I’m ready to take that next step.”
The Raiders may need to be aggressive in finding a wide receiver this offseason but if Tucker emerges as an impact player, they may be able to focus on addressing other needs instead.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Tucker said of the opportunity. “With [Adams] being gone, obviously, you play a few more snaps and you might face a corner No. 1 or corner No. 2.
“But I feel like I’m ready, and I’m not taking that lightly.”
Raiders Offense Could Be in Trouble
Even with Adams playing in three games, the Raiders offense hasn’t been good this season. They are scoring 18.2 points a game, which is 27th in the NFL.
Losing Adams will only make things worse, especially with Jakobi Meyers dealing with an ankle issue. If the Raiders hope to turn the season around, they may need to consider adding more wide receiver help. If they keep losing, they may as well embrace what they have and hope for a high draft pick in 2025.
Austin Boyd 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
