Oakland Raiders: Five Worst Draft Day Whiffs Of The Reggie McKenzie Era

3. Tyler Wilson (QB)

In 2013, the Raiders were still a year away from drafting their franchise quarterback in Derek Carr and were still searching for somebody who could play the position with some competence. Unfortunately for them – or maybe fortunately, given how 2014 panned out – they didn’t find what they were looking for in the 2013 Draft.

In the fourth round that year, they took Tyler Wilson out of Arkansas. He put up respectable numbers as a Razorback, throwing for almost 8,000 yards with a nearly 63 percent completion rate, 52 touchdowns and just 26 interceptions, and set a number of school records over what was essentially a two-year career as a starter. He also compiled a QB Rating of 144.

In Wilson, the Raiders would have been getting something akin to Kansas City’s Alex Smith – a decent game manager, but not a quarterback who can really light it up. At the time though, with the coaching regime that was in place, maybe that would have been good enough.

The early returns out of OTA’s and camp were all fairly positive. Of course, early returns out of OTA’s and camp usually are. It’s how things play out as the Summer wears on that are going to tell you what you have on your hands.

And in Wilson’s case, they didn’t have – well – much. Though he’d been expected to compete for the starting job, Wilson quickly fell down the depth chart, getting beat out by Matt Flynn, Terrelle Pryor, and Matt McGloin.

Wilson – the highest drafted member of the 2013 Draft to not make his team’s opening day roster – was placed on the practice squad, getting a call up to the active roster where he sat on the bench later in the year.

The last sighting of Tyler Wilson was on Cincinnati’s practice squad in 2014.