Las Vegas Raiders: Position battles to watch during the 2023 offseason

Los Angeles Chargers v Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers v Las Vegas Raiders / Ethan Miller/GettyImages
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Raiders position battles to watch: C

Another position that the Raiders added a substantial amount of talent to is cornerback. While the team has Nate Hobbs on one side and Amik Robertson in the slot, it is anyone's guess who is going to take over across from Hobbs.

As such, Las Vegas added all of Duke Shelley, David Long Jr and Brandon Facyson, through free agency and traded up to select Jakorian Bennett from Maryland in the fourth round.

Most notably, the team will finally have some depth at a position where they previously were rostering perhaps the worst cornerback room in the league. While this group is not good by any means, there should be a good amount of competition or playing time, especially between Shelley and Long.

In 2023, Shelley enjoyed somewhat of breakout season while in Minnesota and had fans from PFF who gave him an 81.5 grade for the 2023 season. Long, who had a down season last year, has been a member of some great defenses while with the Rams and even won the Super Bowl two years ago.

Finally, don't count out Bennett. A confident young player at a position where you have to be willing to take your lumps, he had an immense amount of ball production at Maryland where he led the nation in pass breakups with sixteen to go along with three interceptions.

Next. Predictions for all 17 2023 Raiders games. dark

In week one, look for the starting lineup to be Hobbs and Long with Robertson in the slot but with a full summer to battle it out, don't sleep on the rookie making some noise in the pre-season just like Hobbs did several seasons ago.