Podcast: New Look Raiders Offense, Surprise Player & More!

The Las Vegas Raiders have undergone tremendous change in the offseason, and the offense will be no different; the defense may feature the biggest surprise player.

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast episode examines the new-look offense, surprise players, and much more.

You can watch the entire podcast below:

The Raiders stole in the third round of the NFL Draft, a versatile and highly talented cornerback in Darien Porter from Iowa State.

In a thin cornerback room, the Raiders were fortunate to get Porter, a perfect fit for defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s defense.

Cornerback Darien Porter

Q: Going back to your last game in college, everything from that point on was preparing to get drafted and doing things that you hope are striking the right notes with the NFL, and all of a sudden you got to switch gears to this your job now. Is that an easy transition to make, or a difficult transition?

Porter: “I think from after the Combine and up until this point, you're doing everything you can to prepare for it, and as a rookie you'll have to adjust. But I think I've done everything I could and everything I can to allow myself to hit the ground running when I got here.”

Q: I think you said after you were drafted, what you feel like separates you is how hard you worked to get here and that you had been through some adversity, some ups and downs. Looking back, what was kind of the hardest thing you had to overcome in the last few years to get to the point where you're practicing in the NFL ?

Porter: “I mean changing positions after three years in college, after playing receiver for three seasons and then trying to pick up on corner, which I never really played before, I think that's about one of the hardest things you could do. I think what separated me and allowed me to get to this point was how hard I worked at it. You know, obviously my athleticism would help me a lot, but I didn't want to be the guy that had to rely on his athleticism. I wanted to be technical, and I wanted to know everything that I had to know.”

Q: When you're at cornerback, can you think like a wide receiver? And does that help you defend?

Porter: “Absolutely. Taking that knowledge I learned from playing offense to the defensive side helps me pre snap pick up on things that the offense might be doing. So, I definitely use that to my advantage as well.”

Q: What has been the biggest learning curve in that transition for you?

Porter: “I think just getting comfortable with the technique. Like I said, I never really played the position, so I was kind of learning it as I was going but really emphasizing the techniques at cornerback. I took a lot of strides and I think I'm in a really good spot now, but continuing to learn more too.”

Q: Who initiated that? Was it you to them or the coaches to you? How did that go?

Porter: “Yeah, Coach [Matt] Campbell, our head coach, brought it up to me after we had some cornerbacks transfer away. So, he knew with my athleticism, I was going to work hard and wanted to see where it could go. And I was all for it. I wanted to see what I could do with it too.”

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