There has been speculation for months that the Raiders might add a veteran cornerback before the start of the season, but as of the second week of training camp the team hasn’t made any moves at the position.
At the moment, the Raiders have nine cornerbacks on the roster and the coaching staff seems to be focused on seeing what they have in Eric Stokes, Sam Webb, Jakorian Bennett, Darien Porter, Decamerion Richardson, Darnay Holmes, John Humphrey, Greedy Vance and Kyu Blu Kelly.
Porter was drafted in the third round of the 2025 draft, and the organization has big plans for the rangy speedster, but it could take the former wide receiver some time to develop as an NFL cornerback.
With Stokes beginning to emerge as the team’s CB1, it’s going to be interesting to see how the competition plays out at the other cornerback spot.
There is still another month to sort out the cornerback room, but the buzz in recent days has been around Decamerion Richardson, who was drafted by the Raiders in the fourth round of the 2024 draft.
Las Vegas Review-Journal insider Adam Hill said on Thursday there’s “no question” Richardson is in the running to start and based on the practice reps at the end of this week, he might hold a narrow lead in the competition.
Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter also had high praise for Richardson this week at camp.
“I thought [Richardson] had a very good rookie year. The way it ended, just the way that he picked it up in the second half, and he has taken that to a new level,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“You can just tell he has responded to the coaching, the teaching, and [Richardson] has had a great camp.”
Richardson was the third fastest cornerback at the 2024 NFL combine (4.34 forty time), but his length also fits the mold of what Pete Carroll likes in cornerbacks.
Last year, Carpenter talked about Richardson’s height and wingspan, and wondered why so many teams passed on a cornerback with Richardson’s physical traits and 26 starts in the SEC.
“Richardson’s arms are so long that he almost looks like Inspector Gadget,” Carpenter said a year ago on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “The way he uses them, his eye discipline, his hand discipline, they have really with him on that and he has taken the coaching.”
“I thought he was going to be more of a project than what he is,” Hondo continued. “I know he started two years in the SEC and all that. I just thought he would be a project because of some of the technique that had to be repaired. [They] have worked with him, and he stepped into training camp, retained everything he learned, and never looked back. He will play a lot this year.”
Based on everything coming out of training camp this week, it sounds like Richardson is still making an impression on the coaching staff (some of the same coaches remain from a year ago on the defensive side) and his chances of starting alongside Stokes seem to be as good as anyone currently on the roster.
x: @raidersbeat
Richardson was a turnstile at cb, last season. I hope they know what they’re doing. I don’t get the perceived notion that the cb needs to be a certain height/wing span to play in Carroll’s system!? If a player can cover,catch, fight off blocks, and tackle WHY do measurables matter that much?!
At least during his Seattle days, it was part of the style that defense played. You had a stout defensive line, a center fielder FS that covered sideline to sideline, a massive thumper at SS, and maybe most importantly…. Outside corners who absolutely mauled the hell out of receivers. It helped to have corners who were big enough to be physical when pressing, and long and fast enough to recover down the field of receivers got a step on them…
It was incredible when it worked.