Silver And Black Pride
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...
