Injuries have both opened and closed many doors at the NFL level. Just last week, when Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Darien Porter left the game with a foot injury, rookie fifth-rounder Zeke Masses stepped into the lineup for the first time, and he started the following contest with Porter out.
Masses, to his credit, was up to the challenge, as he played incredibly well against the Los Angeles Chargers in Porter's place. His rookie counterpart, Jermod McCoy, struggled. But Porter is now back at practice ahead of Week 3, which leaves the Raiders in a bit of a predicament.
Does Las Vegas start Porter, whom they gave the starting nod to at the beginning of the 2026 NFL season after a long summer of evaluation? Or do they ride the hot hand with Masses and break somewhat of an unwritten rule in football? Let's make a case for both.
The case for Raiders' Zeke Masses to continue starting at CB
Simply put, Masses was both the AFC Defensive Player of the Week and the NFL Rookie of the Week, so it's hard to justify keeping that guy off the field. He had two massive interceptions of Justin Herbert and a pass breakup last week after Porter left the game.
His ball skills are unlike any other player in the Raiders' secondary, and he changed the game with his takeaways on Sunday. Plus, Masses proved that he can help out in the run game, as he made a nice tackle for loss and notched five total tackles, four of which were solo.
And he wasn't a boom-or-bust guy, as he only gave up two receptions on six targets, and Masses didn't play frenetically and miss tackles. He was incredibly solid on the boundary against both the run and pass, looking like not just a starter, but potentially a high-end one. That's hard to sit on the bench.
Masses doesn't have as much experience as Porter, and he did lose the positional battle over the summer, so perhaps we are overreacting to a one-game sample size. But Raider Nation has seen enough to know that Masses is the cornerback this fanbase has been waiting on for so long.
The case for Las Vegas giving Darien Porter his starting job back
Players should not lose their starting job due to injury. There is a certain minority owner in the Raiders' building who may disagree with that, but the NFL has long been a league that abides by a certain code, and casting players aside after injuries, especially brief ones, is out of bounds.
Plus, Porter won the starting cornerback job in training camp and the preseason, and Masses would not have even gotten into the game, let alone gotten the start, if Porter hadn't gone down with an injury in Week 1. A large sample size still matters.
And because this is a process-based team, and not a results-driven team, the bottom line of two interceptions and two weekly awards may not mean as much in Las Vegas as it would in other buildings.
Porter is the older, more experienced player, and Kubiak and his staff may still trust him more. At the very least, they could start Porter and rotate the two, as they did with Masses and Jermod McCoy last week.
My gut still tells me that Masses will trot out with the 1s on Sunday at the Superdome, though.
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