After an eventful offseason that saw lots of turnover in the Las Vegas Raiders' secondary, third-year cornerback Jakorian Bennett has suddenly been catapulted into a new role.
With Nate Hobbs and Jack Jones now gone, Bennett stands as the de facto veteran who will have to take up a leadership role in the Raiders' cornerback room.
While that title would normally go to a player with more years of experience under their belt, new general manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll have unintentionally created this situation with the series of offseason moves that they made.
Jakorian Bennett is stepping into leadership role with Raiders
Funny enough, if you ask No. 0 about his approach, he is just doing his part to help the team at this juncture of the offseason. However, he made it clear during Tuesday's media availability that he is no old man.
"No, I wouldn’t call myself an old man. It's good to have some experience, I've been through a lot since I've been here," Bennett said. "Third head coach, third DB coach. I just try to drop down the knowledge to the young guys, because knowledge is power. I'm just trying to do my due diligence and just try to help everybody out."
The former fourth-round pick has shown flashes of potential during his stint with the Raiders thus far. Last year alone was a revelation; Bennett accumulated eight pass deflections in just seven starts. Before a shoulder injury derailed his 2024 campaign, he was allowing a 52.3% completion percentage to opponents.
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While all of that is promising, more will be required in his third year. Looking at the current state of the position, Bennett is surrounded by a lot of youth and uncertainty. Darien Porter, Decamerion Richardson, Mello Dotson, and John Humphrey are not a group that screams NFL experience.
Luckily for Bennett, the man who has been tasked with turning around the Raiders, Pete Carroll, is a defensive back whisperer. Bennett also spoke on Tuesday about Carroll's impact thus far.
"He's all about just getting the ball, and that's why, low key, I want to implement (that) in my game," Bennett said. "I had a lot of breakups, but if I could turn those breakups to picks, I can really help change the game. He's really all about just getting the ball back. It's all about the ball, that's what we preach."
Bennett is right; if he turned those pass deflections into interceptions, he would suddenly draw recognition as one of the league's best. Make no mistake, Bennett is looking to take his game to another level in 2025, and luckily for him, with Carroll overseeing Patrick Graham's defense, that might just be the case.