Heading into the bye week at 2-5, it’s obvious that the Las Vegas Raiders need to make some changes for the rest of the season. One of the Raiders’ first moves should be to push rookie cornerback Darien
Porter up the depth chart by elevating him into the starting lineup.
While current first-string corner Kyu Blu Kelly had a promising start to the campaign, he’s been struggling over the last several games. According to Pro Football Focus, Kelly has been targted 36 times this season, allowing 25 receptions for a 69.4 completion percentage, 399 yards (the most among NFL corners) and two touchdowns. That’s resulted in a 48.3 coverage grade which ranks 102nd out of 119 qualifiers at the position.
Meanwhile, Porter has received limited playing time with just 54 coverage snaps in four out of seven games. But he has produced when called upon, surrendering just one catch on three targets for nine yards to earn a 67.2 mark.
Considering that Kelly and Eric Stokes — Las Vegas’ other starting cornerback — are free agents in the offseason and the organization should be looking toward the future for the rest of the season, there’s no reason why Porter shouldn’t get more playtime. Especially since the film speaks for itself.
We’ll start by going over all three times that Porter has been targeted, and here’s the only reception he’s surrenedered. It’s a complete fluke play where Indianapolis Colts backup quarterback Anthony Richardson’s pass is batted at the line of scrimmage and comes back to him, allowing Richardson to catch his own pass.
Porter does give up extra yards after contact, but other than that, there is nothing that he can do better on this rep. He’s even in a great position to make the tackle, which is impressive considering he’s not expecting to have to account for the quarterback as a receiver, obviously.
More than anything, the clip above highlights good eyes and awareness in zone coverage, leading to an incompletion.
The Raiders drop into Cover 3 against a four-by-one formation from the Washington Commanders. Porter recognizes that the solo receiver on his side of the field chip blocks before releasing on a short route. So, as a deep third defender, the corner continues working for depth and gets his eyes to the middle of the field. That allows him to see and cut off the crossing route from one of the slot receivers on the other side of the formation.
That helps give the pass-rush enough time to get pressure and forces the reciever to adjust his route, bending it back to the middle of the field. With Maxx Crosby bearing down on him, Commanders’ quarterback Marcus Mariota has to get rid of the ball and doesn’t pick up on the reciever’s route adjustment, resulting in the pass being nowhere near the intended targeted for an intentioal grounding call.
Las Vegas is in Cover 3 again, where Porter initially shows press coverage before bailing post-snap. He does a great job of staying on top of the receiver, AD Mitchell, who is running a vertical route, and using his hand/arm to feel the receiver’s route while keeping his eyes on the quarterback. That’s textbook coverage and since Mitchell wasn’t able to win deep, he cuts the route off and runs a comeback to try to create separation.
However, watch Porter break down and sink his hips at the top of the route. Had Richardson thrown the back shoulder or comeback route, the corner gave himself a chance to make a play on the ball by staying inphase when Mitchell snapped the route off. But since Richardson saw press coverage pre-snap and didn’t adjust, he still throws the go route for an incompletion.
Porter actually tracks the ball in the air pretty well here and might have been able to get his first NFL interception had the pass been remotely accurate.
Now, let’s dive into a couple of reps where the rookie doesn’t get thrown at but shows off some skills to work with.
He’s on the Cover 2 side of Cover 6 here and works for depth initially since the receiver he’s lined up across from releases on a vertical/go route. That helps ensure Colts quarterback Daniel Jones throws the short out route instead of taking a hole shot down the field. Again, Porter shows good eyes in coverage to read Jones and break on the out route.
Now, the ball gets batted at the line of scrimmage, so the corner’s efforts don’t matter on this play specifically. However, had the pass reached the target, he’d be in a great position to either get a pass breakup or make the tackle for a short gain. A rep like this will pay off down the road.
This time, Porter is in man coverage against Indianapolis’ No. 1 reciever, Michael Pittman Jr., on third down. Pittman releases hard inside to run a sit route, a combination of drag and curl routes where the receiver “sits” over the center, varying his speed off the line of scrimmage to try to break away from the corner.
However, Porter recognizes the route and drives on it without overpursuing and fights through some physicality from Pittman to stay in phase. Now, the ball gets thrown over his head for a first down as Kelly is beaten by the dig route from the outside reciever on the other side of the formation. But this is a great rep from Porter’s perspective since he manages to stay on-balance and is in a perfect position to make the tackle short of the sticks had the ball come his way.
Finally, the third-round pick certainly isn’t a force against the run. But he is willing to stick his nose in there and get invovled in run fits, which this clip highlights.
The Commanders come out in a jumbo package with two tight ends and an extra offensive lineman lined up at tight end. They run a pull-lead concept where the playside/left tackle and extra lineman down block while the playside/left guard pulls to kick out the edge defender, safety Jeremy Chinn.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas blitzes its two inside linebackers, Devin White and Elandon Roberts, and have Maxx Crosby and Adam Butler gap exchange. Washington’s playside tight end (No. 82) also down blocks and picks up Butler while the extra lineman pins Crosby inside. With the linebackers crashing downhill, no second-level defenders are scraping over the top of the formation, giving the offense the one-on-one matchup it wants with the running back meeting the cornerback in the hole.
Sure, the tackle can be better as the back does add a few yards after contact. But Porter does his job by getting the ball carrier on the ground to keep this to a four-yard gain, which the defense will take as this would have been an explosive play and potentially a touchdown had he not made the tackle.
There’s no reason why Porter shouldn’t be getting more playing time coming out of the bye week. He’s done everything the coaching staff has asked him to do and hasn’t been beaten in coverage yet. Sure, it’s a small sample size and he’s a young player, but it’s not like the Raiders are getting much production out of their current starters at cornerback and the season is already headed no where.
It’s time to increase the Iowa State product’s workload and let him prove himself.
