'The baddest man on the field': How Raiders rookie Tyree Wilson unlocked his potential (2024)

Tyree Wilson knew his season was over. Early in the third quarter against Kansas last November, he awkwardly planted his right foot while attempting to rush off the edge and crumpled to the field in pain. He had to be helped to the sideline and tried to walk it off, but ultimately had to be carted to the locker room.

“He was pretty emotional, and I really don’t think it was that he was worried about his draft status,” Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said in a phone interview last month. “It was almost him feeling like he was letting us down.”

Wilson was in the midst of a career year, but Texas Tech was 4-5 entering the game, and he desperately wanted to help his team become bowl-eligible. It wasn’t until he returned to the sideline that he began to worry about how the injury might affect him.

“My only question was, ‘Will I still go in the first round?'” Wilson told The Athletic in a phone interview Monday. “But then after that, I just sucked it up. I was like, ‘God’s got a plan.’ I couldn’t control what happened, but I could control stepping up as the leader of the team and continuing to work.”

Wilson underwent foot surgery nine days later, but maintained a presence in the Texas Tech facility, coached up his younger teammates and showed continuous support.

“I imagine in the back of his mind he was worried about how it was going to affect his future,” Texas Tech defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said. “But you would never, ever get that from him because he would always still have that same smile on his face and ask, ‘How can I help?'”

Texas Tech ended the season with four consecutive wins, including a bowl victory over Ole Miss. Wilson’s off-the-field contribution made a lasting impression on his coaching staff and teammates.

“When scouts were coming to talk to us and asking us about him, they’d say, ‘How would you describe him?'” Texas Tech outside linebackers coach C.J. Ah You said. “I’d say, ‘He’s a college pro. He’s in college, but he’s an NFL player in every aspect of everything he does in his life.’ … There’s no doubt: He’s going to be an All-Pro. He’s going to be one of the great ones to play the game. And that’s just off of his mentality and how he goes about his business. He’s going to attain all of it.”

Wilson’s rehab prevented him from doing any testing beyond physicals and medical checkups during the draft process, but he still went through the usual interviews and meetings. The Raiders and general manager Dave Ziegler first met with him at the Senior Bowl in late January and developed a strong first impression.

“Someone that’s a willing learner, someone that talked about needing to get better, talked about wanting to get better and showed a passion for football,” Ziegler said. “There were a lot of boxes that he checked, and then we went from there and it kept getting better.”

The only major question for the 6-foot-6, 271-pound edge rusher was his health.

“I think he can be an elite player at that level as long as he stays healthy. I still think he has an upside to him,” DeRuyter said. “He’s extremely strong. I think there’s no weaknesses in his game. He can set edges, rush passers and plays hard. I mean, to me, that’s a formula — barring an unfortunate injury — for playing in the league for a long, long time.”

The Raiders felt the pros outweighed the cons. And when Wilson was still on the board with the No. 7 pick last month, they didn’t hesitate to take him.

“They’re going to get somebody that loves football,” McGuire said. “They’ll get somebody that’s going to be a great teammate. They’ll get somebody that plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played. I mean, he is a very physical presence. He’s one of the biggest human beings you’re going to see. He’s always going to be smiling and he’s going to love life. He’s going to be a great Raider.”

Wilson probably won’t start as a rookie — Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones are ahead of him on the depth chart — but he expects to be fully healthy by training camp and will likely fill a large role as a versatile defensive lineman who can play inside and outside and can be relied upon against the run and the pass. There were other potential landing spots that probably would’ve allotted him a bigger immediate role, but Wilson has no qualms about where he ended up.

“It’s really just them seeing where they can use me,” Wilson said. “I’m a versatile player; that’s why they brought me in. I’m smart, so I can learn multiple positions. And with two great pass rushers in Maxx and Chandler, I’ll be able to refine my technique in my pass rush game and take it to another level.

“I feel like there’s no better room to be in.”

Wilson was born in Anchorage, Alaska, but his family relocated to Texas when he was a toddler. He attended school in East London, a town of only about 1,000 people. It wasn’t hard for Wilson to stand out as someone who sprouted to 6-foot-5, 220 pounds by the end of his sophom*ore year and played football, basketball and track. However, that notoriety didn’t influence his personality.

The grandson of an Air Force veteran, Wilson was raised by a mother — Tiffany Helton — who maintained that military mindset. She and his stepfather, Charles Helton, both worked at West Rusk, the town’s elementary, middle and high school, and kept a watchful eye over him.

As composed as Wilson was as a person, he was all over the place as an athlete. His coaches described him as a baby giraffe who didn’t quite know what to do with his gangly limbs. He played as a tight end and edge rusher on a varsity football team that had fewer than 30 players and displayed flashes of potential, but he was merely just a solid player through his junior year. Everything changed his senior season. He exploded with 126 tackles, 38 tackles for loss and five sacks and became someone who the defense was built around.

“One thing that stood out to me was that the way you watch him during the game — and I think the way you guys are going to see him on Sundays — is exactly how you’ll see him at practice, or you’ll see him in the weight room, or you’ll see him in conditioning drills,” former West Rusk football coach John Frazier said. “When we got deeper in the playoffs, the temperatures would drop and, typically, kids want their warmups, and they’ll wear their warmups out there and all that and Tyree’s just the opposite; he was going to wear exactly what he had worn back in August when it was 97 degrees. He doesn’t allow those factors on the outside to get to him or bother him. He actually embraces them.”

After two years as a reserve at Texas A&M, Wilson transferred to Texas Tech in 2020 after being recruited by then-defensive line coach Paul Randolph.

“‘Wow!'” Randolph said to no one in particular when Wilson stepped out of a truck to walk into Texas Tech’s facility for the first time. “‘He’s bigger than I thought.'”

In fact, Wilson was too big. Restrictions during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also prolonged the transfer process, had taken Wilson away from football for about six months and left him overweight and out of shape.

“Anybody can condition as much as you want to,” Wilson said. “But when you ain’t playing football, it’s a different kind of conditioning.”

Texas Tech strength coach Dave Scholz had to teach him to be more disciplined with his diet. That meant way less Whataburger and more lean proteins, vegetables and fruit.

“And he struggled, naturally, the first day running and everything like that,” Randolph said. “But what I remember is, he kept going back and getting back in it and doing it again and doing it again no matter how hard it was on him. To myself, I said, ‘He’s going to be OK.'”

Wilson also had to learn a new position. He was an edge rusher through high school and his first two years in college, but Randolph moved him to primarily a 4-technique lining up on the inside of offensive tackles. He also played 3-technique, lining up on top of guards, and even 0-technique, lining up across from centers.

“The meaner, the quicker, the more explosive, tougher, nastier side of him came out with being an interior defensive lineman,” Randolph said.

Wilson dropped weight, put in extra work after practice, pored over film study and bugged the coaching staff to spend more one-on-one time with him. By Week 6 of the 2020 season, he earned a starting role. He didn’t have much statistical production, but he went into the offseason with a stronger sense of what it would take to reach the level he desired.

“What I saw was an extremely driven young man who changed his body and mindset,” former Texas Tech coach Matt Wells said. “All those kinds of things that really help you become more like a pro while you’re in college, and Tyree had that. He didn’t take plays off, man. He would run sideline-to-sideline. He was a great effort, high-energy guy in practice. And so, all those things I think were the beginning of making him into something special.”

He worked to learn the ins and outs of the scheme, maintained his improved physique and refined his pass-rush moves. The result was a breakout 2021 season with 38 tackles, 13.5 TFL and seven sacks.

Wells was fired midway through that 2021 season and replaced by McGuire, who hired former Fresno State head coach Tim DeRutyer as his defensive coordinator. Wilson was still undecided on entering the draft or returning for his senior year. Still, DeRuyter began developing a plan for Wilson similar to how he had coached Von Miller at Texas A&M and Kayvon Thibodeaux at Oregon. In particular, DeRuyter was excited about how to use Wilson’s length.

“Have you ever walked into a college football facility and you see the Under Armour or the Nike gear model? It’s got shoulders that are four-feet wide and the waist is like 18 inches,” DeRuyter said. “That’s what he looks like.”

DeRuyter envisioned Wilson using his physical tools to thrive in a primary role as a stand-up edge rusher. Returning to school would mean Wilson would make a third position change and play for his third different staff. DeRuyter’s plan for him helped convince Wilson he could still do more to bolster his draft stock and he returned for his senior season.

“And, man, it was such a great move for him,” McGuire said. “But it was a huge move for Texas Tech.”

Wilson embraced the changes. He became more adept at exploding out of the different stance, dropping in coverage, getting low enough to bend off the edge, avoiding attacking blockers too upright and using angles and leverage to his advantage. That allowed Texas Tech to effectively move him up and down the defensive line in an effort to exploit matchup advantages. It all clicked for him when he came in Week 3 against N.C. State where he went off for 11 tackles, 3 1/2 TFLs and two sacks.

“That was like his coming-out party,” Ah You said. “And for us, we were like, ‘Yeah, this dude’s going to be a problem.'”

Around that stretch, Wilson also started to let his personality loose. He’d often burst into defensive staff meetings unprompted with a huge grin on his face just to ask what they were up to. He was a natural leader and someone his teammates gravitated toward. That more confident, outspoken and self-assured version of Wilson was a better player.

“I knew he’d played well at times, but I wanted to get him to play with even a little bit more fire because you don’t always see that in him,” DeRuyter said. “And I told him before the season started, ‘Tyree, you need to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you’re the baddest man on the field 25 times until you absolutely believe it every day, because you can be.’ And, whether he believed it or not — he didn’t project it to me as I was coaching him — but as the year went on and he kept making more and more plays, then he started playing like I knew he could. And he became that baddest man on the field.”

The Raiders entered the draft with several needs for Year 1 starters, but edge rusher wasn’t one of them. They didn’t take Wilson because of what he is now, though, but rather what they believe he can become.

“He’s going to have to earn a role here,” Ziegler said. “There’s a lot of things that he’s going to need to continue to grow on the field and off the field. And we believe that he can do that — that’s why we took him — but he still has a long way to go.”

Wilson isn’t one for bold proclamations about himself. He’s fully aware of how challenging the road ahead of him will be, but he’s aiming high.

“The goal in college was to get to the NFL, and then it became to be a first-round draft pick,” Wilson said. “And I reached that goal, but now the goal is to stay in the NFL for a long time and get multiple contracts and be a potential Hall of Famer. My teammates, I want them to reach their goals and team goals, which is the Super Bowl every year. And then my family’s always going to be my why. I’m going to keep going until I can’t play the game anymore.”

Wilson has shown he’s capable of maximizing his abilities at every stage of his playing career. In high school, he was a middling two-way player, but kept grinding and became a commanding force by the time he graduated. In college, he persevered through a series of on-and-off-the-field changes and ascended every year. Looking ahead to the next level, those who know him best expect a similar arc to take form.

“He hasn’t reached his ceiling,” Frazier said. “I’ll put it this way: He’s played for two other Raider teams, and he hasn’t let either one of them down. He played for the West Rusk Raiders in high school and Texas Tech, of course, and he didn’t let them down. And there’s not a doubt in my mind that the Las Vegas Raiders, he’s not going to let them down.”

(Top photo: Todd Rosenberg / Getty Images)