The Raiders made a heavy investment in the cornerback position in the offseason, but through the first two weeks of training camp, one of the pleasant surprises in the cornerback room has been a player that’s been with the team for two years.
While the attention at cornerback has largely been on rookies Jermod McCoy and Hezekiah Masses over the last couple of months, former fourth-round pick Decamerion Richardson has been quietly impressing the new coaching staff at training camp.
Following the release of the team’s first unofficial depth chart, Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers talked about Richardson, and his rise to second team on the depth chart.
Myers said Richardson had a tendence in the past to play well before the pads came on, but this year has been different.
“[Decamerion] Richardson… He’s second team behind Eric Stokes with Jermod McCoy, the fourth-round pick with the first-round talent behind him on the third team,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders podcast.
“I know that that caught some people off guard. Why is Jermod McCoy third on the depth chart? Because [Richardson] is actually playing really well. That was one of the things I said to [Richardson] during our interview, and he’s not a guy that is going to talk a whole lot.”
“But he even said that he’s playing with a lot of confidence right now… There was a time when he came in as a fourth-round pick out of Mississippi State, and now all of a sudden, he’s a three-year veteran, and he’s got a whole new makeup of that secondary. That room looks different. I started to think… he’s probably going to struggle to make the roster, but everything he’s done in camp so far has looked good. The thing with [Richardson], he’s looked good before without the pads on, but when the pads have come on, it kind of disappears… and this year, he’s been noticed, you notice [Richardson] out there.”
Richardson was arguably the most athletic CB in the 2024 Draft
The Raiders knew Richardson would be a project in terms of his technique at the cornerback, but there’s no question he was one of the most athletic defensive backs in the2024 draft.
In fact, Next Gen Stats rated Richardson as the most athletic cornerback in the 2024 draft.
At 6’2, Richardson has the length to match up with bigger wide receivers and his 4.34 speed at the NFL Combine was the third-fastest time recorded among cornerbacks in the 2024 class.
At one time it looked like Richardson would be a long shot to make the roster, but it’s starting to look like the Raiders have seven defensive backs capable of making the final roster – Richardson, Eric Stokes, Taron Johnson, Darien Porter, Masses, McCoy, and Greedy Vance.
.x: @raidersbeat
Props to Telesco for taking him.