5 Reasons Tyler Wilson Should Start for the Oakland Raiders in 2013

Me and my friends like to call this time of year “fluff season”, the time of year where you get a lot of “fluff” about teams and the players on those teams.  Tyler Wilson is creating some fluff talk with his play in Oakland’s minicamp.  I figured why not add to the fluff by giving you 5 reasons he should be the starter on opening day for the Oakland Raiders.

1.  His last name is Wilson – You know Matt Flynn is waking up in a pile of cold sweat screaming “Wilson!!!” every night.  The minute the Raiders drafted Wilson, Flynn was doomed to see the past repeat itself.

2.  Wilson has the tools – Before this trepid 2012 season at Arkansas in which the poor kid lost his head coach and QB guru, Bobby Petrino, he was headed for a 1st round selection and possible 1st overall selection.  The “Hair” himself, Mel Kiper Jr., had him pegged as a 1st round guy before the season.  Take a  look at his junior year statistics via ArkansasRazorbacks.com and you will be reminded why he was talked about so highly, ” 277-of-438 passing for 3,638 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions, becoming just the second Razorback in school history to pass for 3,000 yards in a season.”  All against the heralded SEC defenses.  Consider this, from his NFL.com draft profile: ” Wilson was unable to improve upon his junior season for a myriad of reasons, including the loss of his head coach, the departure of his three favorite receivers, and a sub-par offensive line.”  Hard to find a QB anywhere that wouldn’t struggle after losing all that he did.

3.  Oakland has nothing to lose – The Raiders have been pegged as the worst team in the league for this coming season.  They lack talent across the board.  Why not develop a young guy with potential?  As a fan I would much rather watch a young guy develop than a career backup lead us to a 4-12 record and leave the team about where we started.  Another AFC team, the Broncos, went through this with the Orton and Tebow dilemma 2 years ago.  Broncos fans were dying to see Tebow play and find out if they had anything in him.  They knew what Orton’s ceiling was, they wanted to see what Tebow could do given the opportunity.

4.  Young Coaches – With the young coaching staff of Dennis Allen, Greg Olson (O-Coordinator) and John Defilippo (QB’s) you know they want to attach themselves to a high ceiling guy they can put their fingerprints on as oppose to a guy who has been developed by other coaching staffs.  This staff would have the opportunity to start fresh with Wilson.

5.  Recent Rookie QB Success – The learning curve for rookie quarterbacks has sharply declined due to the offenses in the NFL going to the spread and the difficulty of the college offenses going up.  Offensive coordinators and coaches have helped by morphing the offense to match the QB’s skills (see RGIII and Russell Wilson).  Having played in the SEC and under Bobby Petrino he should have a firm grasp of NFL terminology and a strong understanding of NFL style defenses.

All of these reasons might not be needed as Tyler Wilson might just be the most talented QB on the Raiders roster.  But as I stated at the start of this article it is fluff season and the Raiders need any bit of news to get excited for the up-coming season.  So, speak to me Raider fans, who do you want to see lead the Silver and Black in 2013?

Note:  Purposely didn’t mention Terrell Pryor as I think he will end up being 3rd string…