Much was made about the Las Vegas Raiders' investment in the secondary this offseason, as John Spytek and Klint Kubiak took four defensive backs in the 2026 NFL Draft. This influx of young talent was needed for a Raiders team that had poor production and little promise on the back end last year.
While Arizona safety Treydan Stukes was the highest pick and the most talked-about player in the spring, mid-round corners Zeke Masses and Jermod McCoy stole all the headlines at training camp. Unfortunately, they had a rough outing in their debuts, and Stukes didn't really stand out, good or bad.
But the often-forgotten fourth defensive back that Las Vegas selected, fifth-round safety Dalton Johnson, put together a strong performance against the Arizona Cardinals. Although he was talked about the least throughout the offseason, Johnson is making his presence known now in live action.
Dalton Johnson was Raiders' most impressive rookie DB in preseason opener
First, let's touch on how the other three drafted rookie defensive backs fared. McCoy endured the most obvious struggles, as he gave up two touchdowns on goal-line fades and gave up another grab after getting out-physicaled at the top of the route. It wasn't a great showing for him at all.
Masses also got baptized a bit, as he relinquished three catches on three targets for 25 yards and missed two tackles. Stukes was solid enough, not necessarily doing anything bad, outside of a whiff on one tackle, but the second-rounder didn't really jump out with any great plays, either.
Johnson, however, made an impact both on special teams and on defense. In 28 defensive snaps, he logged three tackles and three run stops without missing one. Johnson was only targeted one time in 10 coverage snaps, and he made a nice play to force an incompletion.
On special teams, he played nine snaps split between five different units -- kick coverage and return, punt coverage and return, and field goal/extra point block -- and notched a tackle while earning a 75.1 grade from Pro Football Focus in that phase of the game.
Here's how these players graded out compared to each other, via PFF:
Category | Dalton Johnson | Treydan Stukes | Zeke Masses | Jermod McCoy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall Grade | 66.9 | 63.1 | 40.7 | 39.1 |
Run Defense | 66.2 | 57.1 | 38.1 | 62.1 |
Coverage | 63.0 | 64.3 | 45.9 | 35.3 |
Tackling | 75.7 | 37.8 | 37.4 | 75.1 |
Special Teams | 75.1 | 66.9 | 60.6 | 60.5 |
Clearly, Johnson outplayed these three players, despite not garnering as much attention in camp. It should be noted that Stukes, Masses and McCoy all had plenty of reps against the Cardinals' second-team offense, and Johnson played primarily against the 3s and worse. That is significant.
And this piece isn't meant to crown Johnson as the best in the class or say that Stukes, Masses and McCoy are overrated or not worthy of their spots. Stukes played fine, Masses may have just had a rough outing, and McCoy just turned 21 years old and played his first game in 20 months. He's fine.
Perhaps Johnson hasn't gotten enough credit in the early going, though, as the media and fans fell for the other rookie defensive backs. Kudos to Johnson for keeping his head down and doing his work. Maybe it won't be long until he joins his first-year teammates with the second-team defense.
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