The Las Vegas Raiders got some great injury news ahead of Week 8's game against the New York Jets, as young wide receivers Jack Bech and Dont'e Thornton Jr. were both activated from IR. But two other members of the team's 2025 draft class went down with injuries on Sunday.
Darien Porter went down on the first play of the game, as he appeared to tweak something in his lower body while chasing down Garrett Wilson after giving up a reception. Tonka Hemingway left at one point as well with an unknown ailment, but he was limited to just 13 defensive snaps.
Rob Leonard's defense can't afford to be down two starters, especially with a well-rested San Francisco 49ers team on the docket in Week 9. The Raiders need both Porter and Hemingway for this weekend's return to the Bay. So, let's see what the latest is on their injuries.
Injury update for Raiders CB Darien Porter
Klint Kubiak, in his ever-verbose and descriptive fashion, had the following to say about Porter's injury after the 38-33 win on Sunday.
"26 had a groin in the game. So, we'll take a look at him tomorrow."
Gary Kubiak used to say things like, "X player has an X body part," and Klint has clearly adopted his father's tendency to be as vague as possible with injuries. I suppose that's better than being a bit misleading, which he was at the beginning of the year. Here was Kubiak's follow-up on Monday:
“Yeah, it’s a groin, and we’ll continue to monitor throughout the week. So, I think we’ll just kind of see how he progresses throughout the week.”
So, just as originally thought, Porter is dealing with a groin injury, and they'll have to see how things go this week. Groin injuries are notoriously fickle and linger, so the Raiders will have to assess the severity and balance their desire to have Porter back, and not letting this nag him for longer.
When Porter went down in Week 8, interestingly enough, Jermod McCoy was his initial replacement. Zeke Masses also got some run, but only after McCoy began to struggle. Both played, and while neither was particularly bad, it would be nice to have Porter for Week 9 against the 49ers.
Latest on Las Vegas DT Tonka Hemingway's injury
Fans didn't see Hemingway leave the field; they only saw the notification that he was questionable and then ultimately ruled out for the contest. And while Kubiak wasn't asked about Hemingway's injury on Sunday, he had the following to say on Monday:
“Yeah, he had a stinger come up in the game, and we continue to evaluate him.”
Stingers are an interesting injury, as they have a wide range of severity. Sometimes, players can go back in relatively quickly, but other times, players go on IR, as just happened with Las Vegas defensive end Patrick Johnson. Head and neck injuries are critical to take care of.
This is the second head/neck injury that Hemingway has suffered in the last few weeks, as a Week 5 concussion knocked him out for Week 6 and kept him out of the first practice before Week 7. Las Vegas surely doesn't want to be down its top interior defender, but caution is required here.
With Hemingway potentially out, look for Tim Keenan III and JJ Pegues to get more snaps.
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