Very few returning players from the Las Vegas Raiders' 2025 roster, starter or not, should feel secure about their spot heading into the 2026 campaign. The organization brought in a new leader in Klint Kubiak, and with him, a boatload of new additions from free agency and the NFL Draft.
In particular, the Raiders re-tooled and beefed up the secondary by trading for veteran nickel Taron Johnson and drafting four defensive backs in Arizona safeties Treydan Stukes and Dalton Johnson and cornerbacks Jermod McCoy of Tennessee and Zeke Masses of California.
Simply put, everyone in Las Vegas' defensive backfield should be on red alert, and if you weren't extended this offseason like Eric Stokes or drafted last year like Darien Porter, your future with the Silver and Black is at least somewhat in peril. Such is the case for veteran Isaiah Pola-Mao.
But in training camp, he can prove that he still belongs.
Isaiah Pola-Mao must prove that he still belongs in Las Vegas Raiders' safety rotation
Let's call Pola-Mao's 2025 campaign what it was: Disappointing. After showing serious promise filling in for an injured Marcus Epps in 2024 and earning a solid contract extension from new general manager John Spytek, Pola-Mao fell flat on his face in what was a disastrous year for the Raiders.
Now, given Pola-Mao's skill set, he is better suited to be a box safety playing closer to the line of scrimmage. He doesn't quite have the coverage chops or instincts to be a deep safety and serve as the last line of defense, and yet Pete Carroll and Co. put him back there last fall. He was set up to fail.
Poor coaching and being forced to play a bit out of position didn't necessarily help his cause. But missing tackles, getting caught with his eyes in the wrong place and allowing pass-catchers to separate from him and run free were common mistakes of his, and those were all his own undoing.
Las Vegas brought in Stukes to immediately serve as the free safety in Rob Leonard's defense, so Pola-Mao has his work cut out for him. And unlike the other safeties on the roster, other than Jeremy Chinn, who figures to start at strong safety, the Raiders would save money cutting Pola-Mao.
That isn't unimportant.
At points during the offseason, according to multiple reports, Pola-Mao was the third safety behind Chinn and Stukes. But given that Leonard is likely to see the nickels and safeties as fairly interchangeable, Pola-Mao may drop to fourth in the order behind those two and Taron Johnson.
Rookie Dalton Johnson also made some plays during the offseason program, and if the youngster looks capable of being a special teams ace and holding it down in a low-volume rotational role, then Pola-Mao could be set free by the franchise that originally saw promise in him as a UDFA.
All of this is to say that Pola-Mao has his work cut out for him. He is obviously a talented player with a great frame, but he simply has to show more than he did last year. And maybe a paradigm shift from Patrick Graham to Leonard is all that is needed, and this staff knows how to properly utilize him.
However, the moves that the front office made this offseason would lead one to believe that they weren't too happy with how the back end of the defense performed last year. And nobody played more snaps back there in 2025 than Pola-Mao.
With a strong training camp and preseason, it would be easy to justify keeping Pola-Mao around. He's not all that expensive, and his duties aren't likely to be big enough that he could make as many mistakes as last year. And he may fit very well with what Leonard is planning to run.
Raider Nation, however, needs to see it to believe it. With just a year left on his contract, Pola-Mao needs a big season. That starts with proving that he still belongs in Las Vegas during training camp and fending off a handful of new additions who were brought in to replace him.
Add us as a preferred source on Google