Darien Porter is Ready to Put His Best Foot Forward

The Las Vegas Raiders reeled in an impressive draft haul at this year's NFL Draft. While their first-round pick, Ashton Jeanty, will rightfully garner most of the praise and attention from this year's Raiders draft class, cornerback Darien Porter may quietly play a significant role for them this season.

After taking the field for the first time as a Raider, at the Raiders' rookie minicamp, Porter explained what the minicamp was like. He is eager to continue improving.

“Everyone's excited. There's a lot of juice going around. Everyone, yeah we made it to NFL, but now the thing is to stay here and make your mark here. So, everyone's flying around. Everyone's got really good energy. We've only been here for two days, but you're already starting to form those relationships that you can lean on those guys. So, I think it's really special, and I think over this weekend we're going to keep growing,” Porter said.

“Obviously, I know that my best football is still ahead, but I'm here and I've done everything to put myself in this position. And I was drafted in the third round and I'm still learning. So, for me, it gives me confidence to know that I've been able to make it, but I'm still learning and I'm still growing," Porter said.

The Raiders need Porter to get up to speed and begin playing his best football sooner, rather than later. Las Vegas desperately needs help at the cornerback position and Porter is undoubtedly a part of the Raiders' plans to fix what has become a glaring issue on a questionable defense.

Daniel Harms from the Draft Network said, "Porter is a tall and long defensive back listed at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds—he’s probably closer to 6-foot-2—whose wide receiver experience appears in every snap. He’s coverage multiple, showing a good understanding of zone and man, but he is most comfortable as a Cover 3 corner with man upside. Porter has a smooth backpedal and the hip fluidity to turn and run, but an elongated gate transition makes it difficult for him to cover quick-twitchy receivers.

"His recovery burst is impressive down the field, and covering distance horizontally to take away throwing lanes for quarterbacks, he relies on it too often in zone trying to bait throws. His feel for proper depth in zone shows up, and he does well to shift eyes with receivers coming in and out of his area to the quarterback and back. When triggering downhill, he has a slight false step that catches him, but when he accelerates, he explodes. As a former wide receiver, Porter has good ball skills, tracking, and timing when the ball is in the air with instincts to match."

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