Silver And Black Pride
3rd-year pro is special teams mainstay but veteran Lonnie Johnson Sr. can take that role
Finding a niche as a special teams mainstay isn’t necessarily the sexiest way to go about an NFL career.
But for a late-round draft pick, that career path can lead to a long career as special teams is the easiest and most prolonged way in ensuring you’ve got a 53-man roster spot year in, year out.
This is where Las Vegas Raiders safety Chris Smith II finds himself. Entering his third year in the league after being taken in the fifth round (170th overall) in the 2023 NFL Draft, the 25-year-old hasn’t been able to break into the defensive rotation but is an active participant in Tom McMahon’s special teams group. Earning 191 special teams snaps as a rookie, Smith garnered 276 in 2024 as his participation rates were 61 and 66 percent in his first two season in Las Vegas.
Headed into 2025 under new head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek, Smith appears set to at least be a special teamer again. The 5-foot-11 and 195-pound Georgia product has good size for the unit. However, the Raiders new head honcho is all about competition across the board to earn snaps and Smith is in a spot where he must establish himself in a suddenly crowded safety room in Las Vegas.
Two new faces have joined the Raiders in Hudson Clark (undrafted free agent from Arkansas) and Jonathan Sutherland (second-year pro undrafted free agent out of Penn State). Sutherland — who spent time with Carroll in 2023 with the Seattle Seahawks — was one of several players added as the Raiders made a roster moves on Monday.
Clark and Sutherland make it a safety group of eight.
Veterans Jeremy Chinn and Lonnie Johnson Jr. were added during free agency back in March and the newcomers join incumbents: Isaiah Pola-Mao, Smith, Trey Taylor, and Thomas Harper.
The likely starting safeties in that group of eight are Chinn and Pola-Mao, two bigger defenders at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds and 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, respectively. Competition will sort out the starters and rotational players, along with the special teamers in the safety group.
While Smith has familiarity with McMahon’s special teams unit the past two seasons, he’ll face a strong challenge from Johnson.
At 6-foot-2 and 213 pounds, the 29-year-old veteran has the size and experience advantage over Smith. Johnson, a second round pick (54th overall) by the Houston Texans in the 2019 draft, had the opposite career path in a sense as he went from defensive starter to special teamer from the first three years of his career to the las trio of seasons.
Johnson spent the 2024 season with the Carolina Panthers where he played 339 snaps on special teams (81 percent of the units total) while seeing just 13 on defense. The Kentucky product finished with seven total tackles last season.
Considering his light participation rate the last three seasons on defense, expect Johnson...
