The Las Vegas Raiders' new leadership tandem of Pete Carroll and John Spytek raised the floor of this team ahead of the 2025 NFL season. With a handful of bold draft picks, they also dramatically raised the ceiling for the coming years.
High-upside players like Darien Porter, Dont'e Thornton Jr. and Tonka Hemingway all came to Las Vegas in the middle rounds of this year's draft. Based on reports from OTAs and training camp, it seemed like these three were all ahead of schedule and bound for big roles as rookies.
Porter, in particular, was being thrown into the fire as he started at cornerback opposite Eric Stokes all offseason. When Kyu Blu Kelly supplanted him as the starter before Week 1, however, all was not lost. Carroll guaranteed that there would be a rotation with Porter, Kelly and Decamerion Richardson.
Rookie CB Darien Porter did not amount to much in his Raiders debut
That turned out not to be the case when the Raiders traveled to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots. Both Stokes and Kelly played all 71 defensive snaps, and slot corner Darnay Holmes rotated in for 26 snaps.
Neither Porter nor Richardson played a single down on defense despite what Carroll said. Porter did play 20 snaps on special teams, but he did not record a single stat on Sunday other than a missed tackle.
This was far from a strong debut for Porter, whom Raider Nation was excited about heading into the preseason. It makes sense, however, as he switched positions in college and only had seven starts at cornerback for the Iowa State Cyclones.
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In reality, Porter was always going to be a project, and it would have been careless to throw him into the fire in Week 1. He has every conceivable physical tool to be a great cornerback in the NFL, but these things take time, and Carroll likely did not want to wreck his confidence against New England.
Stokes and Kelly also held up better than most expected, so there was no real reason to rotate Porter or Richardson in on Sunday. But if the faith in Porter and Richardson is low enough that they can't get a single snap, a veteran addition may be in order for Las Vegas.
While that would essentially cinch the fate of one of these two players, it may be best for them to have a true veteran to learn the ropes under. Porter's debut did not go as he had wanted, and it was certainly one to forget. But it shouldn't be too much longer before he's a legitimate contributor.