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'People are counting on us': Raiders' 2023 draft class looking to take leap going into Year 2

The Las Vegas Raiders' 2023 draft class saw their first season in the NFL come to an end nearly eight months ago.

But if you ask them, it felt like it was centuries ago.

The combination of Tyree Wilson, Michael Mayer, Tre Tucker, Jakorian Bennett and Aidan O'Connell found themselves playing a lot of snaps either at the beginning or by the end of their rookie seasons.

Mayer and Bennett won starting jobs following training camp, but injuries hampered their years.

Wilson missed the majority of last offseason training while rehabbing a foot injury, not seeing many reps in the regular season until being used as a pass-rushing defensive tackle towards the later stretch.

O'Connell and Tucker emerged as a promising duo once the Purdue quarterback took over as the full-time starter in Week 9. Tucker soon after saw an uptick in playing time at slot receiver.

There's no doubt that progress was made throughout all their rookie campaigns, but there were growing pains along the way. However, in this year's training camp, the sophomore standouts are turning the pain to gains.

"What I see is guys playing a little bit more looser, to be honest, at ease kind of finding their role," Antonio Pierce said of his second-year players. "You've got to find out what it's like to be a pro. What worked in college doesn't work in the pros sometimes for you, so just adjusting your body, your routines."

The five players mentioned are expected to make big leaps this year, with the potential of all of them starting or being included heavily in the gameplan. There's also Byron Young, Amari Burney, Chris Smith II and Nesta Jade Silvera currently fighting for rotational roles and snaps on special teams.

O'Connell is notably engaged in an competitive quarterback battle with Gardner Minshew. As pads come on at practice, the second-year quarterback is striving to build upon his momentum from the end of 2023. In his last six games of his rookie season, he compiled a 9:1 touchdown to interception ratio.

"I'm a little more comfortable," O'Connell said of his second NFL training camp. "I'm a little more familiar, basically everything is different. It's good to have that change and be around the guys again but it's definitely a lot different than last year. ... Every year presents a new challenge and this year is definitely different than last year, but really the mentality has to stay the same. No matter if you're the starter or trying to compete or the third string, you try to earn it every single day and that's what I'm trying to do."

Bennett and Tucker have received universal praise from teammates and coaches for the emphasis they've put on getting in the best shape possible. They hope to have the results show up on the field, with Bennett fighting to win back his starting cornerback job and Tucker to remain the starting slot receiver.

Bennett has already deflected multiple passes throughout camp, while Tucker has shown his deep threat potential with his speed, connecting on several big yardage plays with O'Connell and Gardner Minshew II. Additionally, Tucker has been taking reps as a kick and punt returner.

"I think you see with Bennett," Pierce said, "is a gentleman that started early in the season for us, had some rough patches, went on the bench, came back in here and there, boom, he hit the reset button and came back with a different mindset and said, 'You know what, I'm ready to compete.' And he's doing such."

"You see that with Tre Tucker. He changed his body," the head coach added. "He was here this entire offseason and got bigger, stronger and faster. Had a hell of a play yesterday in the two-minute drill. It's just the confidence they're playing with, and more importantly, I think it's a credit to their teammates. Davante [Adams] is doing a really good job, Jakobi Meyers and those guys are around and really loving up and coaching up our young receivers."

Wilson and Mayer, the Raiders' 2023 first- and second-round picks, have been open of their desire to put last season in the past and step up in a big way for the roster.

"We're not rookies no more," Wilson stated emphatically. "We had a little leverage last year, but this year, people are counting on us. The whole team is counting on us. We've got to come up to the plate and be big role players on this team."

"Our team is going to need us," Mayer said. "It really comes down to that. Our team is going to need us. That's why this organization drafted us last year, to play ball, do it to the best of our ability and help the team win games. We need Ws, we want to be in the 'W' column.

"We learned a lot last year, we all did. Now it's time to come back, refocus, reenergize ourselves and get ready to play ball for Year 2."

Take an exclusive look at photos from Tuesday's 2024 Training Camp practice.

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