The Raiders are entering the 2026 season with a lot of questions at the wide receiver position, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the wide receiver room shakes out as the season progresses.
Tre Tucker, Jack Bech and Jalen Nailor are the three wide receivers at the top of the Raiders’ first unofficial depth chart, but according to Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers, it has been a rookie at training camp that has been standing out the most.
“Coming up on Thursday, their first preseason game, I’m very interested to see what Malik Benson looks like going up against someone else because right now, he’s been the best wide receiver. At least he’s been the wide receiver that stands out the most,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders podcast.
“We’ll see what he looks like when he’s going up against someone else. I mentioned Jalen Nailor had that touchdown catch.
It was in traffic. That was a pretty good highlight. And then there was another play that Benson, going back to that guy again, made a really good catch over Darien Porter.”
Myers addressed the catch (above) and said second-year cornerback Darien Porter, who was in coverage on the play, has been playing well to this point in camp.
Porter is listed as a starting cornerback on the initial depth chart, and Myers said the catch was simply a better play by the rookie wide receiver.
“[Darien Porter] has looked really good so far in camp, as well, and it was just a better catch. Benson just made a better catch. Porter had great coverage,” Myers continued. “It just was a really good job. Well done. Benson’s been running with the ones, twos and threes. He does just a little bit of everything. Like I said, he’s definitely someone to pay attention to coming up on Thursday in the preseason opener.”
Raiders have a surplus of young talent at cornerback
It will be interesting to see how long Porter can hold onto his position at the top of the depth chart because Jermod McCoy, Hezekiah Masses and apparently Decamerion Richardson are lurking.
“[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.
“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.”
What’s going on with Jermod McCoy?
The McCoy situation is going to be one to watch.
Every indication is that his surgically repaired knee has not limited him in practice, but McCoy hasn’t played competitive football in more than 18 months
If his knee is fine, McCoy might just be a little behind in terms of getting acclimated to playing cornerback at the NFL level.
There were some around the team that believed McCoy would be in the starting lineup if his knee is healthy but based on the first glimpse at the Raiders’ depth chart, the rookie cornerback still has a lot to prove.
That being said, a lot can change when the bright lights of presason are turned on.
x: @raidersbeat
Thorough bureaucracy never allows the spoken truth to be realized. Every head coach from high school on says the same thing. The best player will play. Drafted higher. Paid more. Came from a coaches past system. Friends with the family. There are countless reasons why those spoken words are always broken