Oakland Raiders: Big names to avoid during 2019 NFL free agency

Ronald Darby, CB, Philadelphia Eagles

Everyone knows the Raiders need major upgrades at cornerback this offseason. Apart from Gareon Conley, they don’t have any quality options at the position, which played a large part in their finish as the 19th-ranked pass defense of the 2019 campaign.

As it turns out, though, this is not the year to try to fix your cornerback woes via free agency. Among the weakest positions of the 2019 free agency class, cornerback offers nearly no top-tier talent this offseason. The best of the bunch may actually be Ronald Darby, who isn’t exactly the most exciting of options.

What’s worse is, as a result of his status as one of the offseason’s top cornerback talents, he’s probably going to get overpaid. Avoiding any sort of bidding wars for an injury-prone cover man would be ideal for the Raiders.

In each of his last two seasons, he’s played nine or less games. On top of that, he was wildly inconsistent in 2018 before going down, looking like a star some games and lost in others.

If he were coming in at a reasonable price, it would be worth giving him a shot to prove himself. However, seeing as he’ll probably command far more money than he deserves on the open market, the Raiders would do well to steer clear. Use one of those first-round picks to make an upgrade at cornerback instead.