There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the Raiders’ offensive line, and after an awful season from the O-line in 2024, it’s fair to wonder if the same cast of characters will be able to turn things around in 2025.
But based on reports from their joint practice with the 49ers on Thursday, the Raiders’ offensive line held it’s own and one of the team’s former beat writers even pointed out the unit was better than he expected.
That’s was the good news on Thursday.
The bad news was that a largely unproven cornerback room in didn’t ease any concerns with their latest efforts, and less than a month before the regular season opener, Pete Carroll and company still have a lot to figure out at cornerback.
“The safeties had their problems — Juszczyk beat Isaiah Pola-Mao for a long touchdown — but the cornerbacks were a bigger issue. The Raiders rotated Eric Stokes, Darien Porter, Decamerion Richardson and Kyu Blu Kelly with the starters. None of them stood out in a positive way,” The Athletic’s Tashan Reed reported on Friday evening.
“At nickel back, it was mostly Darnay Holmes or safety Jeremy Chinn when he wasn’t working from the box. Overall, the secondary had too many breakdowns in coverage and rarely made plays on the ball. They’ll need to step it up to avoid a repeat Saturday.”
One issue for the team’s young cornerbacks is that they practice against one of the least accomplished wide receiver groups in the league.
Jakobi Meyers is the clear no. 1 wideout in Vegas and Pro Football Focus didn’t rank Meyers among the league’s top 32 wide receivers in May.
If the Raiders are going to add any potential starters before the start of the season, it would make sense to bring in a cornerback.
Adding another wide receiver wouldn’t hurt, but it might be a little more difficult to get a wide receiver in sync with the offense this close to the start of the season.
Should have taken are harder look at Bennett before giving him away for next to nothing.
Exactly! I’ve been saying the same thing. To go from the team’s best CB to trading him for a waiver wire pick up, bc he “doesn’t fit our system”, is hard to accept as a fan of this perennial losing franchise. When they said that Stokes would be the No.1 CB, I knew we were in trouble.
Should have taken a harder look at Bennett before giving him away for next to nothing.