A fourth straight loss and the Raiders are searching for answers. In times like these you take inventory of what's working and what's not. so, let's do that in this week's Stock watch report.
Stock up -- WR Tre Tucker
For the second consecutive week, Tucker’s stock has risen. He followed up his 97-yard two touchdown performance in Week 6 against the Bills with a 103-yard, one touchdown performance against the Rams. In the process, he had his fourth catch over over 40 yards, tying for the league lead in that stat. Every game like this raises his price tag either to re-sign or on the free agent market as he is in a contract year.
Stock down -- DE Maxx Crosby
Some of the issues for Crosby are not his fault. But that has kind of always been the deal and he has always been able to overcome it to dominate
anyway. As it stands now, he hasn’t had a sack since week four and has just two on the season through seven games. He also has just three tackles for loss, which is usually an area he excels in. Defenses don’t seem to be running away from him like they used to. A couple times versus the Rams, they seemed to use his aggressiveness against him. Either they toss past him as he overruns the play or go through the hole he vacated to try and make something happen. He has just 18 tackles on the sason too, which puts him on pace for his lowest tackle numbers since 2020.
Stock up -- RS Dylan Laube
Another long return from Laube in this game put him as the league-leader in yards per return average (31.1). Along with his return abilities, he does a fine job on coverage teams as well.
Stock down -- DC Rob Leonard
The Raiders have the 29th ranked defense in the NFL in both points and yards allowed. And they tied a franchise record with five consecutive games giving up at least 27 points. They look undisciplined and often times lost. After the Rams loss, the linebackers in particular seemed quite frustrated at how the plays they knew the Rams were going to run worked over and over. In particular runs and bootlegs out of play action. And the truth is, whether or not the Rams do those well in general, every team has been gouging the Raiders with those. The players will always say it’s execution and tackling. And, yeah, some of it is that. But it’s more than that. And all of it has to start with coaching. Especially when you consider Leonard was a defensive line coach and that’s the area that seems to be struggling the most.
Stock up -- DT JJ Pegues
This is a small win, but after being inactive for five of the first six games of the season, Pegues was activated over Jonah Laulu and Thomas Booker IV. Then Pegues had a forced fumble in the game along with a couple tackles. The following day, Laulu was waived. Which would signal that Pegues could be working himself into the good graces of the new coaching staff and could see increased opportunities as the team looks for answers to their issues stopping the run.
Stock down -- G Caleb Rogers
Stopping the run is one thing. Establishing the run is equally important. The Raiders swapped out Jackson Powers-Johnson for Rogers presumably to try and jump start that. It did not go well against the Rams. Rogers was routinely beaten on the block by Rams interior defenders. Keep in mind, this Rams team lost two key defensive tackles this week. And even shorthanded, Rogers was getting bodied. Not a good sign for his prospects of being the team’s new full time starter and already leading some to wonder if it's time to pull the plug on the Caleb Rogers experience.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Stock watch: Who’s up, who’s down for Raiders after Week 7 loss to Rams
