Jakobi Meyers is gone. Traded to Jacksonville last week for two picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. He was the best wide receiver on the Raiders, which means his absence would most certainly be felt. Leaving the question as to who would step up to fill his shoes.
Whether it was Meyers being gone or just the Raiders overall struggling offense against a tough Denver defense, the Raiders couldn’t get anything going against the Broncos last week and lost 10-7.
In the midst of the Raiders’ struggles on offense, there was one small bright spot. Or at least the potential for one — Tyler Lockett.
The 11-year veteran signed with the Raiders two weeks ago, following his release from the Titans. In Las Vegas he reunited with his former head coach (Pete Carroll) and his former quarterback (Geno Smith) from his days in Seattle.
Yeah, his five catches for 44 yards isn’t much to talk about. But not only was it a season high for the 33-year-old, it was his best output in at least a calendar year. His previous season-high in catches over seven games in Tennessee was four catches which he had in week three. His previous season-high in yards was 37 which he also had in that game. The last time he surpassed the 44 yards he had last week was November 3 of last season. And the last time he surpassed five catches was last year’s season opener (6).
In total, Lockett has had four games over the past two seasons in which he put up at least five catches — all with Geno Smith as his quarterback.
“He’s always going to make the play when the play needs to be made. I mean, that’s Tyler Lockett,” Geno Smith said. “It’s been his entire career where he’s always been in the right spot. He understands where the holes are in the defense, and then he catches the ball. He gets open and catches the ball. I mean, that’s the number one rule for receiver. Again, he’s a guy, along with the other guys, who we just want to give him the ball when the time’s right, but we’ve got to continue to spread the ball around and get the ball into the hands of all of our playmakers. I think Tyler is a guy who’s going to help this offense really down the stretch.”
Lockett may be approaching the tail end of his career, and his days of being a speedy deep threat are well behind him. But he is the only real proven veteran presence among this wide receiver corps and the Raiders will be looking to him to keep raising the bar for himself and the rest of the wide receivers on the team.
“Tyler is a veteran who’s played a lot of football. He’s caught a lot of passes,” Smith added. “He understands defenses, and I think that will help the younger guys… You wouldn’t look at him and say he’s had all the success he’s had on the football field, but he’s done it because he can play from the neck up, and that’s where we want to get everybody to that level where they understand the game and can be quarterback friendly and play from the neck up as well.”
Not since the 2023 season has Lockett regularly caught six or more passes in a game. Something Jakobi Meyers did ten times since last season. That’s what the Raiders need from Geno and Lockett if this offense is to compete down the stretch.
Next up is the Cowboys and the 31st ranked defense on Monday night.
