The Las Vegas Raiders have their initial 53-man roster set after the NFL’s cutdown day on Tuesday. However, there are still several questions on the Raiders’ depth chart heading into the season opener against the New England Patriots, especially on defense.
Starting Cornerbacks
Eric Stokes seems like a lock to start, which raises questions on its own since the free-agent signing got benched by the Green Bay Packers last season. Regardless, Stokes was a mainstay with the first team defense in Las Vegas this summer, and
the bigger mystery is: Who will be lining up on the other side of him?
Ideally, rookie Darien Porter will take over that role sooner rather than later. But the third-round pick was viewed as a project coming out of Iowa State and didn’t appear ready for action during the preseason. That points to Kyu Blu Kelly getting the nod, as he had a strong showing against the Seattle Seahawks before a tougher performance versus the San Francisco 49ers and suffering an injury at the end of training camp.
The dark horse in this race is Decamerion Richardson, who surrendered just two catches (three targets) for 18 yards in all three preseason games, per Pro Football Focus.
Nickelback
Staying within the secondary, who will be covering the slot for the Silver and Black has been a big question since Nate Hobbs left for Green Bay in the offseason.
Darnay Holmes has the most nickelback experience of the team’s cornerbacks, but the six-year pro has been below average for his entire career. The coaching staff has toyed with the idea of putting safety Jeremy Chinn at nickel, which could be a good strategy against tight ends. However, the free-agent signing lacks some short-area quickness to cover shifty slot receivers.
Another safety, newly acquired Tristin McCollum, could fill this role since that’s what he played in college. The problem is that McCollum just joined the team and has primarily been a free safety during his limited time in the pros. Also, his slot coverage snaps in college came at the FCS level.
All of this being said, it seems like the coaching staff’s plan is to go with a more “old school” approach and use a lot of base personnel, meaning three linebackers and four defensive backs (two outside corners and two safeties). That would minimize the nickelback’s importance in the defense, as it would turn into more of a sub-package role in passing situations.
Still, the team will want to have a quality slot corner in coverage, and that leads to questions about the linebacker rotation.
Linebacker Rotation
Las Vegas has a collection of solid to good run-defending linebackers, headlined by Elandon Roberts and Germaine Pratt. Hopefully, converted safety Jamal Adams can help solve that problem. Historically, Adams has been better as a run defender and blitzer, though. Also, similar to Chinn, the former Seahawk isn’t known for his quickness and change-of-direction skills to cover slot receivers.
Looking at the bigger picture on the second level of the Raiders’ defense, it will also be interesting to see how the coaching staff rotates projected role players (assuming Roberts and Pratt are the two starters) Adams, Devin White, Tommy Eichenberg and Cody Lindenberg.
The latter two are younger guys who likely won’t see the field much, but the two older guys are expected to be contributors. White can at least serve as an off-ball blitzer, if he isn’t a first-stringer when the team is in base personnel.
Free Safety
Especially if Patrick Graham and Co. are going to use a lot of base formations, who the defense’s free safeties are is going to be important to give the linebackers help over the top in coverage and prevent explosive plays. That requires a deep safety great sideline-to-sideline range—i.e., Earl Thomas when Pete Carroll was in Seattle—or could mean a lot of two-high coverages, which is a potential issue for the Raiders.
Isaiah Pola-Mao and Chris Smith II both clocked 40-yard dash times above 4.5 seconds (4.62 for Smith), and neither is known for being ranging in coverage. McCollum ran a 4.48 at Sam Houston State’s pro day, which is a decent time, but not the elite mark to cover both sides of the field. He can make up for that with good instincts, but that’s hard to do, seeing as he needs to learn the defense first.
When it comes to split safety coverages, Chinn is someone who can help take away the deep half occasionally. However, he’s best when in the box, so leaning heavily on two-high looks would take him out of what he does best.
With that, it will be interesting to see what Graham does on the backend of the defense to begin the campaign.
Defensive Tackle Rotation
Heading into the campaign, Adam Butler is the only sure-fire starter at defensive tackle for the Silver and Black. It feels like the other spot is still up for grabs, where Jonah Laulu and Thomas Booker IV are battling for the job. Also, Leki Fotu was a bit of a surprise to make the roster after missing the first two preseason games and good chunk of training camp with an injury. Still, he’s expected to serve as the team’s nose tackle.
That could push Fotu into a first-string role ahead of Laulu and Booker if Graham goes with more even fronts. Additionally, there’s a chance Butler, Fotu and Laulu/Booker all are starters if the defense leans on odd fronts, and Tyree Wilson could factor into the mix there as well. Not to mention, Wilson is expected to see some reps on the inside in passing situations.
Finally, there’s a question of how much playing time rookies Tonka Hemingway and JJ Pegues will get this fall.
Swing Tackle
Switching to the other side of the ball, the Raiders moved on from Thayer Munford Jr. after cutdown day, which was justified given his awful preseason performance. However, Munford’s replacement is Stone Forsythe, who has posted below-average PFF grades in each of the last three seasons with the Seahawks and just got cut by the New York Giants.
Carroll likely brought on Forsythe due to their familiarity, but the swing tackle spot is still a potential issue for the Silver and Black.
2nd & 3rd Wide Receiver
The front office seems adamant that it isn’t going to trade Jakobi Meyers despite his recent request, and tight end Brock Bowers is going to be the focal point of the offense’s passing game, reducing the significance of the second and third wide receivers on the depth chart. However, who steps up and takes on those roles is still a question mark, especially given the uncertainty surrounding Meyers.
Tre Tucker is in line for a breakout performance to become the WR2 in Las Vegas, but Tucker still has to prove himself. Meanwhile, rookies Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Jack Bech will be getting their feet wet in the NFL this year.
On the other end of the spectrum, how much veteran Amari Cooper has left in the tank is up in the air since he’s coming off the least productive season of his career with 44 catches, 547 yards and four touchdowns while battling injuries and playing for two teams. That’s on top of Cooper joining the team late and having no chemistry with quarterback Geno Smith.
2nd Running Back
Similar to receiver, rookie Ashton Jeanty is expected to carry the majority of the load in the Raiders’ backfield this season. But running back is a position where depth is very important, especially with a first-year player leading the way.
The coaching staff listed Zamir White or Raheem Mostert as the backup running back behind Jeanty during training camp, and it’s still not clear who won that job. To be fair, White and Mostert are completely different styles of runners, where the former could take the short yardage/downhill carries, while the latter is the speed back/perimeter runner.
However, those two are also coming off bad seasons where they battled injuries and had disappointing production. White played in eight games (five starts), recording 183 rushing yards (2.8 ypc) and one touchdown, and Mostert logged 13 games (one start) with 278 yards (3.3 ypc) and two scores on the ground in 2024.