The Raiders are dealing with some significant injuries in the first month of the season, but team color analyst Kirk Morrison says he isn’t discouraged because injuries to Kolton Miller and Eric Stokes will bring opportunities for new players to step up.
Specifically, Morrison said that third-round rookie Darien Porter has already shown he is ready for a bigger role.
“I’ve seen a lot of guys rise up to the top, especially in these situations. Eric Stokes goes down, Darien Porter goes in. We didn’t mention his name, but guess what? The dude played lights out football [against the Bears],” Morrison said on the Locked on Raiders podcast this week.
Porter has only played 33 defensive snaps on the season, but he posted Pro Football Focus grades of 77.1 and 67.2 in weeks three and four, respectively.
In 16 plays in coverage, Porter has only been targeted once and hasn’t given up a reception, according to Pro Football Focus. He has also been credited by PFF with a ‘defensive stop’ which they define as a “tackle that constitutes a failure for the offense.”
Going into the draft, Porter was listed by ESPN’s Jeff Legwold as one of the draft’s fastest risers and it’s no secret that he was one of the highest-graded cornerbacks on the Raiders’ draft board.
“Porter was a Day 3 ‘maybe’ for some teams because of his quirky resume,” Legwold wrote on April 13. “He’s 24 years old, he played six college seasons, he switched from wide receiver to defensive back in 2022, and all seven of his collegiate starts came in 2024. But he has worked his way into being a solid Day 2 selection.”
From the same ESPN story, Legwold talked about the turning point in Porter’s draft projection and why the newest Raiders’ young cornerback was moving up draft boards…
Turning point: Porter made an early mark in Iowa State’s second game of the season, snagging two interceptions in a 20-19 win over rival Iowa. He only registered one more interception over the rest of the season, but he is the classic potential over production player — fitting the typical riser profile.
Why he rose: His measurements stood out at the combine, as his 6-foot-3 height and 33⅛-inch arm length gives him the coveted reach defensive coaches want. His 4.3-second 40-yard dash also tied for third among all players who ran. Porter showed that he has elite traits and is still an ascending player despite his age. Porter is also a high-value special teams player, with five blocked kicks in his career.
And from Porter, himself, leading up to the draft…
“I had to work a lot on my press [coverage skills]. I converted from wide [receiver] to corner, and especially with my frame, I’ve got long arms and really make receivers uncomfortable at the line of scrimmage. … I had great success this past season but still think that there’s a lot left. And really I’m just scratching the surface. My best football is still ahead of me.” — Porter on moving from receiver to corner
x: @raidersbeat
He was definitely a 4th to 5th round kinda project but the morons in charge decided to take him in the 3rd. Hoping he continues to get reps as that will be the only way to get better. Practice won’t matter much due to the quality of receiver he’s matched against. Some more strength wouldn’t hurt. Hopefully he takes the place of Stokes by next year or Kelly by the end of the year.
These losses are absolutely the BEST thing that could ever happen to the Raiders. These losses force Raiders ownership to acknowledge that they have it wrong. What is true is that the smallest NFL market team, the Green Bay Packers, consistently field a competitive team while the richest NFL teams, with all the money in the world, fail to do so. I believe that this is the dictionary definition of the term mismanagement. For all their financial success, the richest NFL teams routinely make the most consistently piss poor management decisions. Which begs the question, Who are the high priced, misinformed dummies that the owners of these teams owners are listening to? Given the consistent success of the smallest market NFL team as opposed to the richest NFL teams, financial success does not translate to on the field success. I guess all the money in the world can’t buy you common sense.