Raiders Young Defender Struggling, But Here's Why He Can’t Afford to Hit Brakes

Entering the season, it was well known that the Las Vegas Raiders' defensive backfield's inexperience would come into play. They must push through the normal growing pains of playing young players at critical positions.

Oct 5, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Ashton Dulin (16) is unable to make a catch against Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly (36) during the second half at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

The Las Vegas Raiders knew entering the season that their defensive backfield had work to do after losing several cornerbacks during the offseason. Las Vegas' defensive backfield has been tested early and often this season with results that were less than ideal.

Growing Pains

Over the offseason, the Raiders watched cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly shoot up the depth chart during training camp. While Kelly's talent was apparent, he is still a young cornerback in the league. Teams wasted no time throwing at Kelly and have done so looking for a completion or pass interference.

Before practicing this week, Raiders Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham credited Kelly for bouncing back well from some early mistakes. Kelly and the Raiders' defense still has time to turn things around but will need all hands on deck to make that happen.

Las Vegas Raiders CB Kyu Blu Kelly | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

"The way a football player is supposed to respond at this level. Get back to work. Grind at it. You can't play cornerback in this league and not have a short memory. I mean, again, when you see it on tape, someone getting beat, it's not just one person's fault, usually. I mean, they got to have a short memory, move on, and thankfully we get 17 of these opportunities, and this is Week 6, and it's time to go. Everybody's hungry, hungry for a win."

Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll noted that there are several ways to help Kelly be successful. The Raiders' coaching staff plans on helping Kelly scheme wise. Carroll explained that Kelly is close to taking the next step in his development, but that comes with time.

"Yeah, just keep working with him. He's doing so many good things, but he is getting the action. And it's interesting, Darien [Porter] played on the other side and really didn't see the ball very much throughout the game,” Carroll said.

Las Vegas Raiders CB Darien Porter | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

“And so, there's ways to help him coverage wise, there's ways to make sure that we're just keeping him on it. It's just a hair of a difference on him playing from the PI situation that we work really hard on. So, no, we just got to keep getting better. I mean, they're going to get the corner sometimes, and we got to help him as much as we can."

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