Oakland Raiders: Five most pressing questions that must be answered

Who Is Going To Be The Third Cornerback?

The cornerbacks group is another one who got an extreme makeover this offseason. Gone are the underachieving and/or chronically injured David Amerson and Sean Smith. The best of the group, T.J. Carrie walked as a free agent to Cleveland – though, it was admittedly, a low bar to clear.

Inexplicably though, the team held on to both Dexter McDonald and Antonio Hamilton who’ve proven time and time again that they’re liabilities in pass coverage. A receiver could be bound to a chair, gagged, and blindfolded, and they’d still find a way to get open on those two.

Anyway, Gruden brough in an intriguing group of players in an attempt to bolster and improve the play out of the cornerbacks group. It’s a group that notched a whopping two whole interceptions last year – both by the aforementioned Smith in one game. Which tells you a lot about how they group fared last season as a whole.

With last year’s first-round pick Gareon Conley seemingly back to health after basically redshirting his rookie season, the Raiders are hoping to get more than the 92 snaps he played in 2017. He seems off to a fast start and has impressed his coaches and teammates – which seems to bode well for this defense.

After a break out season, Rashaan Melvin signed a one-year, “prove it” deal. If he can replicate the sort of success he had with the Colts last season, Melvin may be able to parlay that into a bigger payday with the Raiders.

With Conley and Melvin a virtual lock to be the starting tandem when the seasons open, it leaves one big question looming – who is going to be the slot corner?

Gruden has brought in some intriguing prospects in Daryl Worley, who’s showed some potential upside. He also brought in older vets like Shareece Wright and Leon Hall – Hall, perhaps, for his familiarity with Guenther’s system. The Raiders also added rookie Nick Nelson in the fourth-round of this year’s draft.

And, of course, there is also the aforementioned McDonald and Hamilton on the roster. At least, for now, anyway.

There are a lot of bodies, but only two for sure locks in Conley and Melvin. After that, everything is up in the air. The only certainty is that the Raiders are going to need to get much improved play from their corners if they hope to keep up with teams who possess lightning fast receivers like, among others, Kansas City, Denver, and Cleveland – all of whom Oakland will face in 2018.

If Oakland can’t get better cornerback play, it’s going to be another long season.