2020 Las Vegas Raiders over/under: Trayvon Mullen 6 interceptions

2020 Las Vegas Raiders over/under: Trayvon Mullen 6 interceptions

The Case for the Under

The primary case for the under is simply that a player recording six or more interceptions just does not happen all that often, even for the best of the best at the position. Last season only three players recorded six interceptions, and two of them were First-Team All Pros in Stephon Gilmore and Tre’Davious White.

In 2018 and 2017, only eight players total hit that mark, but several others were just barely under with four or five interceptions.

Talent obviously plays a big role in racking up the interceptions, and in some cases, a player can be too good to record them because opposing teams just don’t target him. The aforementioned Asomugha had only one season with multiple interceptions as a Raider, eight total in 2006, and in his three Pro Bowl and two All-Pro seasons, he had one or fewer interceptions.

Quarterbacks feared Asomugha so much, and he did such an excellent job covering opposing receivers that he just wasn’t targeted enough to record any turnovers. Mullen should seek to emulate Asomugha’s ability to shut down an entire third of the field more so than his ability to force turnovers which he displayed during that ’06 season.

Mullen is not at Asomugha’s level yet, but the point still stands that having a lot of interceptions doesn’t necessarily mean that a cornerback is playing at a high level. It takes a level of skill to bait quarterbacks and force them into mistakes, but it can be just as valuable to take an opposing receiver out of the game completely.

The best-case scenario is for Mullen to do both for the Raiders but in just his second year they would settle for either of the two.