There’s an interesting development coming from the early stages of the Las Vegas Raiders’ training camp: veteran defensive back Taron Johnson has been getting reps at safety.
During the offseason, the Raiders traded for Johnson to, presumptively, solve the defense’s nickelback problem. The former Buffalo Bill has almost exclusively been a slot corner, with about 5,100 of his roughly 6,500 career snaps coming at that spot, per Pro Football Focus. He’s recorded about another 1,000 snaps lined up in the box,
but has only had 39 reps at free safety, per PFF.
Granted, ESPN’s Ryan McFadden posted on X/Twitter that the Raiders are planning on using Johnson at nickel and safety this season, suggesting this is an attempt to expand the veteran’s role on the defense. McFadden also noted that TruMedia has Johnson with 67 career snaps at safety, a little less than double PFF’s figure.
But the overall point is that Las Vegas’ coaching staff is asking the offseason addition to play a position he doesn’t have much experience in, and that will have a ripple effect on the rest of the depth chart in the secondary.
Free Safety
At least part of the reason the Raiders are trying Johnson at safety is that they have a massive hole on the backend of the defense. Isaiah Pola-Mao struggled in coverage at free safety last year, and Tristin McCollum has the most NFL experience at the position with about 250 career regular-season snaps over the last three seasons, per PFF.
After the draft, the presumption was second-round pick Treydan Stukes would man the free safety spot for at least a year while Johnson handles the nickel duties. However, that could be flipped if the early training camp reports hold, where the veteran moves to the backend, and Stukes sticks at the position he played the most in college.
Nickel
As mentioned above, the eight-year veteran moving to free safety would create an opportunity for Stukes to play nickel. He recorded over 1,000 snaps as a slot corner (via PFF) over the last three years at Arizona, and played pretty well in that role during the 2025 season. The former Wildcat had four interceptions and six PBUs in coverage, while allowing no touchdowns and just 213 yards in 10 games, posted a 72.5 PFF run-defense grade, and had four pressures and a batted pass on just 11 pass-rush opportunities.
Additionally, Johnson playing safety creates a greater opportunity for Greedy Vance to make the roster, who generated some buzz early in camp by coming up with an interception against Fernando Mendoza. Vance, a 2025 undrafted free agent, spent the majority of last season on the practice squad and had some struggles during his limited regular season action. However, the USC product made some noise during last year’s training camp and has drawn strong early reviews from the coaching staff this summer to potentially take on a bigger role in year two.
Strong Safety
There shouldn’t be much impact or change at strong safety regarding Johnson’s expanded role. Jeremy Chinn held down that job in 2025 and should continue to do so since he was one of the team’s better defensive players a year ago.
The biggest shift could be if Rob Leonard doesn’t want to leave Johnson as a single-high safety and opts to run more two-high coverages, rotating Chinn into the deep half of the field more frequently. Granted, in nickel personnel, that can also be accomplished by sending Stukes (or the third safety/extra defensive back) to the backend of the defense.
Cornerback
The Raiders have a competition for the starting outside cornerback spot opposite Eric Stokes, with Darien Porter, rookie Hezekiah Masses and Decamerion Richardson getting reps with the first-team defense so far in camp. Rookie Jermod McCoy also figures to factor into the equation. However, who lines up at free safety should have very little impact on that battle.
