Treydan Stukes' improbable path pays off in Raiders debut

Sep 17, 2026 at 01:02 PM

Raiders Columnist

How does a guy who was a no-star recruit coming out of high school, who had more college scholarship offers for track (3) than football (0), who ended up walking on at Arizona before spending six years in Tucson thanks to COVID and an ACL injury, become a second-round draft pick and not only start his first-ever NFL game but come down with an interception in his debut?

Introducing Raiders rookie free safety Treydan Stukes.

"My path is definitely a unique one, but football was always going to be my number one," Stukes told me with a smile. "So, you know, I think just trusting the process, trusting in something beyond myself and doing my part to have made it to this point."

Stukes, the lone member of his 10-man draft class to start for the Raiders, not only had the pick in the Raiders' 27-13 win over the Dolphins, he also finished with five tackles, a pass defensed and another tackle on special teams while playing all 56 snaps on defense.

Not a bad debut, eh?

Not bad at all.

And, really, not that unexpected, either.

"I saw a guy that took the practice field to the game," Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said of Stukes' initial regular season experience in the NFL. "I know I say that a lot, but that's how he practices, and he didn't change on Sunday."

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Stukes, the No. 38 overall draft pick last spring, came to the Raiders with a ballhawkish rep. Four of his seven college career interceptions came last fall, even as he missed the Wildcats' first two games rehabbing the knee injury that cost him the final eight games of his previous season.

As such, he was named third-team All-American and jumped off the screen for Raiders scouts and coaches with what they referred to as his intelligence and communication skills.

"He was a late bloomer, right? He was a walk-on, became a three-time captain," Raiders assistant general manager Brian Stark said the day Stukes was drafted.

"He's got really good man-to-man coverage skills, which is hard to identify in those safeties sometimes. But with his versatility, with him lining up at the nickel spot, you have a chance to see him exhibit those, and he's got really good ball skills. He's also a good tackler. He's a physical player, so he kind of shows, he checks every box … for the skills that you're looking for at that spot. And you got a chance to see him kind of display all of them because of the versatility in the way he played."

Mind you, Stark said all of this BEFORE Stukes took the field for the Raiders.

Talk about a premonition.

So what, exactly, was going through Stukes' mind when Malik Willis' high-arcing throw hung in the Allegiant Stadium air for what seemed an eternity in the third quarter?

"Don't drop it," he said with a laugh. "I knew I was in good shape, and I could sense the trajectory of the ball, so I knew I was going to have a chance to make a play on it. But you've got to finish them when you've got a chance. So that was the first thing that went through [my mind].

"Then, I just wanted to celebrate with my whole team after. So, yeah, it was definitely a cool moment."

One made infinitely cooler by how tough such a seemingly easy INT actually is, the ball hanging so high and so long that Stukes actually had time to think about it.

Talk about a mind trip.

"It's definitely a whole different type of difficult than a tough catch or whatever it may be, just because you've got all the time in the world to overthink it or jump too early, jump too late," Stukes said. "So many different things can happen in the snap of a finger. Just trying to stay calm, understanding that you've been in these scenarios before.

"That's what helps me, just knowing that I've done it before and I can make this play. Don't get too excited, don't get too high, too low."

Yes, Stukes used some of that track background in his launch. In high school, he placed second in state in the triple-jump (45 feet, 8.25 inches) while also competing in the 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles and long jump.

The challenge then, obviously, is to continue that level of play at the Chargers this coming weekend…and beyond.

Yes, even for a 25-year-old rookie.

But back to the initial question.

Football was in his DNA, what with his father Ray having played defensive back at Pacific in 1994 and 1995 before a short stint in the Arena League with the New York CityHawks.

And when Treydan was looking for a college football team coming out of high school, Ray's position coach at Pacific, Paul Rhodes, was now at Arizona as the Wildcats defensive coordinator. One thing led to another and…

"Crazy, I remember when we talked about it at home, me and my dad, we were just like, 'This is just too much,' like things connecting, you know, in line at one time," Stukes said. "We just felt like it was the right thing for us. I got to go to school in my home state, right up the road from where I live and I took that walk-on spot.

"It worked out for me, obviously, in the long run. But, yeah, it was definitely an unsure time."

And that's how it all came about for Stukes for his NFL rookie debut.

Talk about a winding road just getting started.

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Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) before practice at Intermountain Health Performance Center.