Oakland Raiders: Bringing Daryl Worley back solidifies secondary
The Oakland Raiders brought back Daryl Worley on a second-round tender this offseason, and he instantly makes the secondary better in 2019.
The secondary of the Oakland Raiders is starting to become solidified. It started with the addition of Lamarcus Joyner, then Nevin Lawson and Curtis Riley. Now the Raiders have resigned one of their own most recently.
Cornerback Daryl Worley signed his restricted free agent contract tender yesterday, which makes his return to the team now official.
It wasn’t critical, but necessary to bring Daryl Worley back. The early goings of the season kicked off poorly for Worley. He was serving a four game suspension from an off the field incident. That missed time made it a difficult transition for him.
Worley was constantly getting beat and looked out of sorts. However, he would rebound and start to settle into his role after the midway point of the season. Worley began to look like a serviceable corner opposite of Gareon Conley, who also had a fantastic transformation the second half of the season.
Worley is still unproven, but well worth the time to invest in. He’s already familiar with the system and has his feet under him. The rapport he has built with the defense is not to be taken for granted. Continuity in a secondary is everything, especially since Worley was a starter. It’s just a matter of him building off his strong finish and elevating his play.
Worley’s resigning does not guarantee anything for him in terms of starting. The Raiders will still be in the hunt for a cornerback in the draft. It just depends on where they select one. The Raiders need to have three strong cornerbacks. That’s the status quo of an elite secondary. There’s still Nick Nelson, but he’s not a player that the Raiders can instantly put in the rotation right now. Luckily, the addition of Lamarcus Joyner makes slot corner flexible and not a priority.
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It’s also why retaining Worley was necessary. The pressure to acquire another corner isn’t too heavy now because they know they have a talented corner that just needs to be molded. Daryl Worley will be an interesting player to watch this season. Is he just a temporary position holder? Or will he be a long term answer?