Silver And Black Pride
With the Las Vegas Raiders sitting at 2-6 heading into the second half of the season, the focus for key matchups moving forward will be on young players who have a chance to prove themselves. That starts with the Week 10 contest on Thursday Night Football against the Denver Broncos, as the youth movement should be underway in Las Vegas.
Pete Carroll and the Raiders’ coaching staff finally decided to bench Kyu Blu Kelly and move Porter up the depth chart against the Jacksonville Jaguars. That was the rookie’s second start of the season, his first coming in Week 5 against the Colts when Eric Stokes was out with an injury.
As expected, the Jaguars tested Porter early and often. He was targeted six times for five completions and 65 yards, per Pro Football Focus. It certainly wasn’t the outing the third-round pick was hoping for, but Jacksonville did take advantage of him playing off coverage on several occasions, and he was in a good position but beaten by a perfect throw and catch on another rep.
In other words, the Iowa State product’s performance last looks worse on paper than it actually was. However, things won’t get any easier this week.
The Broncos will have Sutton move around quite a bit, taking 249 snaps as a left outside wide receiver and 194 on the right side, via PFF. So, it should be expected that Sean Payton takes a page out of Liam Coen’s playbook and tests the rookie cornerback with his No. 1 wide receiver early and often on Sunday.
The area where the 6-foot-4, 216-pound wideout poses the biggest threat is on contested catches. He is currently tied for fifth among wide receivers with 11 contested catches and a career-high 58.8 success rate on such targets, per PFF. Luckily, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound corner has the size to match up well and create some intriguing battles for the ball in the air.
Additionally, Sutton’s 566 receiving yards are the 10th-most at his position, and his four touchdowns rank in the top 15. So, Porter will have his hands full in more ways than one against the Broncos, while also having an opportunity to prove himself against good competition.
Who doesn’t love a classic battle in the trenches between two players with hyphenated last names?
While Zach Allen deservedly draws most of the attention when it comes to Denver’s interior defenders, Franklin-Myers’ contributions shouldn’t be overlooked. The latter has 11 sacks in 26 games with the Broncos, including four over nine contests this year. Also, he ranks tied for 16th with 22 pressures and seventh in pass rush win rate (15.9 percent) among defensive tackles in 2025, per PFF.
Meanwhile, Powers-Johnson has been up and down in pass protection this season. He was notably benched in Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs, surrendering three pressures (one sack) and recording a 0.0 pass-blocking grade on 14 opportunities while...
