Silver And Black Pride
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.
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.
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.
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...
