Change was needed for the Las Vegas Raiders heading into this season after a four-win campaign in 2024, and the new regime brought just that. New general manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll immediately revamped the roster in their first offseason at the helm.
This included the overhaul of the linebacker corps and secondary, as only one player remains out of the seven starters who took the field for the team in Week 1. While Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo were replaced with a slew of surefire veterans, the same cannot be said about safety or cornerback.
While Jeremy Chinn and Isaiah Pola-Mao are an incredibly promising safety duo that will likely perform well for Las Vegas this season, they are stretched thin at the position due to a lack of depth. The cornerback room, however, is a complete mystery, as the unit has no infallible starters.
Raiders need to fix their secondary before 2025 NFL season
On Monday, Bleacher Report's Moe Moton wrote about the Raiders' 2025 season outlook, and he was quick to criticize the Silver and Black's secondary.
"The Raiders have a mostly unproven secondary. They don't have a sure-fire starter at cornerback. Safety Isaiah Pola-Mao has to make more impact plays this year than he did as a first-year starter in 2024," Moton wrote. "According to The Athletic's Tashan Reed, the Raiders have featured Jeremy Chinn in the slot, which opens up a void at safety for backups Lonnie Johnson Jr. or Thomas Harper to fill in a full-time starting role."
This is a bit of a worrisome prediction about the Raiders' secondary. Jakorian Bennett had a strong, albeit injury-riddled, campaign in 2024, but reports came in that he was running with the second group at training camp. Free agent signing Eric Stokes and third-rounder Darien Porter were the starters throughout the offseason program, both of whom come with question marks.
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While the Las Vegas defense was far from elite last season, they were a solid, if not above-average group despite rampant injuries and an offense that did not play complementary football. However, the Raiders chose to ditch Nate Hobbs and Jack Jones, two of the team's starting cornerbacks.
Tre'Von Moehrig and Marcus Epps are gone as well, their two starting safeties from the last two years. Things may work out perfectly fine for the Silver and Black, though, as Carroll has a knack for developing defensive backs.
However, a decision regarding the starting cornerbacks is looming at training camp. This dilemma is not an ideal one to be in, especially in an AFC West division with three highly productive offenses. If the team cannot figure things out quickly, they'll be kicking themselves for creating this problem.