Silver And Black Pride
Veteran and second-year defender slated to vie for key nickel role for Las Vegas
With key departures via free agency and outright releasing another starter, questions are abound in the Las Vegas Raiders secondary — particularly at cornerback.
The Silver & Black must identify starting corners at both boundary/outside spots and the vital slot position in nickel alignments. Fortunately for head coach Pete Carroll and his coaching staff, the position group isn’t devoid of talent.
Through the offseason so and incumbents remaining on the roster, the Raiders’ cornerback room has intriguing young talent. In fact the oldest cornerbacks currently on the roster are: Darnay Holmes, Eric Stokes, and Sam Webb who are all 26. The youngest in the room is Kyu Blu Kelly.
Thus, we’re likely to see an open competition for starting spots with Jakorian Bennett, who enter his third year at age 24, a leading candidate to earn an outside starting gig. 2024 NFL Draft pick Decamerion Richardson and Stokes are likely to vie for the other perimeter spot opposite Bennett.
But let’s focus on the interior.
The prime candidates to be the Silver & Black slot machines in 2024: Holmes and safety Thomas Harper.
The Raiders re-signed Holmes at the onset of free agency and he brings familiarity to Graham’s defensive concepts as the duo spent two seasons with the New York Giants (2020-21). Harper was a waiver claim on cut down day last offseason from the Los Angeles Chargers and with him came the three-year undrafted free agent deal he signed with the Bolts. The 24-year-old is under contract until the end of the 2026 season and is listed as a safety. But Harper’s collegiate experience saw him take snaps in the slot and at safety for Notre Dame.
That duo are up first to replace Nate Hobbs, who manned the slot corner role for four seasons in Las Vegas after getting drafted in the fifth round of the 2021 draft from Illinois. Now with the Green Bay Packers, Hobbs’ departure creates a void.
Under defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, the Raiders rarely fielded three linebackers at the same time. The 4-2-5 nickel alignment was more base formation than anything and that normally meant four down lineman, two linebackers, and five defensive backs (three of which are cornerbacks).
Hobbs was more than just mere cornerback in that alignment as he often played very close to the line of scrimmage and acted as a hybrid corner/linebacker that can be an enforcer against the run as a blitzer and reliable tackler. Of course, there was a drawback to that ability as Hobbs (who is 6-feet and 195 pounds) was often hampered by injuries — he only played in 11 games in 2024, 13 and 11 in 2023 and 2022, respectively, while playing in 16 his rookie season.
Graham is back is the defensive play caller and it’ll be interesting to see if there are changes to the system/scheme now that Carroll is Raiders boss (as he has a strong...
