Raiders’ most fierce positional battle to watch at 2025 training camp

Perhaps AI will make Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll feel even younger. Perhaps not as young as the player who caught Chip Kelly’s eyes. Also, the Raiders will have to settle some roster issues as the summer moves forward, and here is their most fierce positional battle to watch during the 2025 training camp.

There is a buzz in the wide receiver room, and it will be interesting to see how that position shakes out. However, the toughest battle appears to be in the cornerback room, where starters Darien Porter and Eric Stokes will have to work hard to keep their statuses intact.

Raiders rookie CB Darien Porter expected to start

Any time a rookie gets thrust into action at a position like cornerback, the team is either desperate or really high on the player. Since the Raiders didn’t get Porter until Round 3 of this year’s draft, it’s hard to know exactly where Porter stands.

Also, consider the Raiders passed on Shavon Revel Jr. and Azareye’h Thomas, Porter better live up to the billing. The good news is Porter has terrific arm length and recovery speed. He reads the quarterback well and can track the ball in zone coverage. At 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, he has the frame to win 50-50 balls. Those seem like good reasons to give him a shot to start.

But a cornerback lurking in the starting mix is Jakorian Bennett. A fourth-round pick in 2023, Bennett has defended 11 passes over his first two seasons.

Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said Bennett has made progress in the offseason, according to Sports Illustrated.

“You have to ask him specifically all the ins and outs of it,” Graham said. “But for me, coming out here every day, working hard, the speed's not going to go anywhere. You see the physicality, I mean in terms of him building his body back up, you can see where he's at with that, just when he's walking around. But the next step for him is just to keep improving.

“Again, still a young player; I don't have the number of games on hand right now, but it probably doesn't even amount to a full season yet based on injury history, what happened with the injuries last year. But just keep improving, because at that position, once you get some more experience, see all the releases, understand the situational football, it's all going to help him be better later on.”

Another player who is scratching around for snaps is Decamerion Richardson. He started seven games in 2024 and defended three passes.

Darnay Holmes and Sam Webb are in the mix as nickel backs. Mello Dotson, John Humphrey, Kyu Blu Kelly, and Greedy Vance Jr. are also on the roster.

Whoever wins the battle for playing time might just be the biggest guy. Carroll likes his secondary to be big. Safety Jeremy Chinn, who came over from the Commanders, is 6-foot-3 and knows what Carroll likes, according to trojanswire.com.

“When you look at his secondaries and the kind of guys that he’s had,” Chinn said of Carroll. “You think of Kam Chancellor and the Legion of Boom and guys like that. I’m just excited to be a part.”

Perhaps that’s why Stokes and Porter are leading the charge right now at the cornerback position.

Carroll certainly seems to think he can get plenty of juice from Porter, according to nytimes.com.

“We’ve always looked for guys that are really fast and guys that are really long and tall because of the style of the way we coach them,” Carroll said. “Darien, he’s a lot like Richard Sherman was. There’s a lot of similarities in the makeup of these two kids. Richard’s history is pretty bright. So I have really high expectations for how this works out with Darien. He kind of fits the mold.”

Porter said he wants to learn from Carroll and live up to expectations. He said he wants to fall into the line of guys like Tariq Woolen and Richard Sherman.

“They’re both tall, long guys, but I think athletically, (I’m more like) Tariq than Richard Sherman,” Porter said. “I’m just looking to take all the coaching I can to get to the level of those guys.”

What about the receiver room?

The Raiders have Jakobi Meyers in the WR1 spot heading into the season. But he’s not truly a WR1 in terms of above-average NFL level. Tre Tucker is set to be WR2. But he’s probably not an above-average WR2.

Right now, rookie Dont’e Thornton seems to have the inside track to the WR3 spot. Rookie Jack Bech is also in the mix. Tommy Mellott and Alex Bachman are in the second team mix.

Thornton has been turning heads of late, according to nfl.com.

“Mark [Davis] joked that was the Al Davis pick of this draft,” Raiders general manager John Spytek said after drafting Thornton, via the team's official website. “The height, weight, speed, raw traits, athleticism, speed, and I think it's just focusing on what he can do and what he can be. You watch his target tape, I think it's pretty impressive. And we think he hasn't hit his ceiling yet.”

Kelly, the Raiders’ offensive coordinator, concurred with Spytek’s assessment.

“I think Dont'e is unique in terms of he's just a hair under 6-5 and he ran 4.3. There's not a lot of humans on this planet that do that,” Kelly said this week. “And I think if you had a draw up an outside receiver, you would pick that type of body type, someone that's got length, someone that's got a huge catch radius, but also has speed.”