Grading the Las Vegas Raiders rookie performances in 2020 Week 11
By Nico Di Fede
Grading the Las Vegas Raiders rookie performances in 2020 Week 11
Damon Arnette, CB
According to ProFootballFocus, rookie cornerback Damon Arnette was targeted 11 times and gave up nine catches for 110 yards. Arnette doubted those numbers as being completely accurate, and I do too. But regardless of whether or not those numbers are exaggerated, Arnette had a mostly bad game.
The first reception Arnette “gave up” was on 3rd and 1 on the Chiefs first scoring drive. Hill ran a quick slant and made the catch for a 14 yard gain. I put gave up in quotes because you can argue this one wasn’t on Arnette. Abram was blitzing so Arnette had to give the speedy Hill some cushion to make sure he doesn’t get behind him.
On the Chiefs second scoring drive, Arnette gave up a 17-yard reception and was also flagged with a pass interference call. He would commit another penalty later, a hold towards the end of the first half that could have been costly had Trayvon Mullen not made the interception to seal the half.
Arnette was guarding Kelce quite a bit, and when he played up close in press man he made a couple of good plays when targeted. Arnette seems to struggle in zone which was the part of his game it was known he needed to work on as a draft prospect.
Cornerback is not only a hard position to transition to in the NFL, but one of the hardest positions period. So growing pains are expected.
Grade: D