How Raiders' Newcomers Are Making Their Presence Felt

The Las Vegas Raiders spent the offseason finding various ways to improve their roster. Las Vegas brought in players at nearly every position group this offseason.

Up-and-Coming Raiders' player.

One of of the Raiders' pleasant surprise of training camp was the rise of cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly. The talented corner came into camp looking to secure a spot and make a name for himself. He went from potential cut to starting cornerback in just a few weeks.

Kelly's solid training camp landed him the opportunity. He made the most out of his opportunity with a productive outing against the New England Patriots.

Prior to practice earlier this week, Raiders Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham shared his thoughts on Kelly and what he brings to the table. Graham noted how well Kelly performed when called upon. The talented corner helped the Raiders in several ways.

"Like I told you guys beforehand, I was interested to see how our corners tackled against Josh's [McDaniels] run game at New England, just in terms of how they get the corners involved, most teams will try to get the corners involved in the run game," Graham said.

"But I was impressed with how he stood out there in terms of crack replace, in terms of the run game. Some of the passes out there to the flat, he came up and had some big hits. That element of toughness from our corner position, that's something I'm looking for each week and looking to build upon that as we go."

In addition to Kelly, the Raiders also added defensive tackle Thomas Booker via trade. Like Kelly, Booker made his presence felt oft in Week 1. Booker routinely helped the Raiders stuff the run, among other things.

Graham explained what he has learned about Booker last Sunday.

"He's a pro's pro. He came in with a smile on his face, willing to learn, put in the time, and he has an element of toughness too to him in practice. We saw that the physicality was there. He's very strong and stood out pretty quickly. But he's a pleasure to be around, I like talking to him, I like talking to him during the game. It's been interesting there. He's a Stanford guy," Graham said.

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