Raiders defense: Loss of Marcus Epps a big blow; opens door for Isaiah Pola-Mao to step up

Next man up approach gives third-year safety opportunity to become a starter

The loss of Marcus Epps to a season-ending injury is a big blow to the Las Vegas Raiders defense — without question.

The veteran safety was a glue-type player who excelled at the task of communicating to the entire secondary and defense to assure proper alignment and assignment while also performing admirably as a run defender, cover man, and tackler. While there have been lowlights along with highlights, losing the 28-year-old safety to a torn ACL in disconcerting 36-22 loss against the Carolina Panthers compounds the downtrodden nature.

Epps’ 2024 campaign saw him as the team’s second-leading tackler (total of 19, 16 solo stops) behind middle linebacker Robert Spillane (32 total, 22 solo). The safety was also second on the team in tackles for loss with two (tied with Spillane; defensive end Maxx Crosby is tops with five) and racked up 10 total tackles in the loss to the Panthers before suffering the knee injury.

But in a “next man up” NFL, the Raiders have little time to lament on losing a leader on defense. After confirming the injury, Las Vegas placed Epps on injured reserve — cornerback Sam Webb was signed to the active roster from the practice squad in a corresponding move — and prep began to realign the depth chart.

And as a result, Isaiah Pola-Mao is given a big opportunity to not only start in Epps’ stead at strong safety this coming Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, but entrench himself as a defender worthy of a starting spot in Las Vegas — or elsewhere.

Fortunately for Las Vegas, the third-year safety is no stranger to what defensive coordinator Patrick Graham seeks from his defense. The 25-year-old undrafted free agent from USC played 80 snaps on defense his rookie year in 2022 and another 130 in 2023 producing 40 total tackles (28 solo) with two sacks, and one interception in those two seasons combined.

Pola-Mao’s size (6-foot-4 and 205 pounds) along with his speed (ran a 4.51 40-yard dash at USC’s Pro Day) make him a moveable chess piece on defense. Graham deploys the safety in the box near the line of scrimmage and deep on the back end. Pola-Mao has feigned pass rush and dropped back to spy the QB or cover the short routes, along with darting in to get after the quarterback or stop the run. He also has ample speed for coverage on deeper routes.

Thus, it was no surprise to hear Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce express confidence in the young safety.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s played a lot for us at that third safety. He has played in some rotational roles in years past in dime, but now he’s in his third year,” Pierce said of Pola-Mao. “We were really comfortable with him. He had a really good preseason, stepped up yesterday and did a decent job filling in. So, we’ll see what happens with Epps here, and then if it’s Isaiah, obviously we feel really comfortable with him.”

How Pola-Mao meshes with Tre’von Moehrig will be instrumental to the Raiders defensive success (or lack of it) as the team moves on without Epps. Moehrig is third on the team in tackles with 15 total (11 solo) and is more of the coverage safety compared to the downhill-type Epps is. Communication still remains a vital part and just how Pola-Mao and Moehrig talk with the rest of the defense bears watching.

Until the Raiders decide otherwise, it’ll be Moehrig at free safety and Pola-Mao at strong safety with Thomas Harper as the backup at free and Chris Smith II as the backup at strong. But the shift in depth chart has ramifications for not only defense but also special teams.

We wrote about Pola-Mao’s special teams prowess and that’d be his ticket to ensure he’s on the 2024 roster earlier in the summer and thus far, that’s proven to be true.

What’ll be intriguing as the Raiders go forward on their 2024 campaign is will Pola-Mao continue to be a special-teams maven?

On the year, he’s been a core special teamer playing nearly every special teams snap available (23, 27, and 25 in Las Vegas’ first three games, good for 82, 82, and 83 percent of the units total snaps) while playing on defense sparingly. Pola-Mao garnered only two defensive snaps in Week 1 and then 12 in Week 2. That not surprisingly jumped to 27 in Week 3.

Last season, Pola-Mao did replace an injured Epps — against the Miami Dolphins — and while his defensive snaps increased (54 in that Week 11 matchup) he maintained his special teams contributions (23 snaps). So don’t be surprised if he dabbles at both defense and special teams this coming Sunday and potentially beyond.

But it’s likely Smith will get more special teams snaps to allow Pola-Mao to concentrate on defensive responsibilities. Smith, a fifth-round pick (170th overall) in the 2023 NFL Draft, totaled 23, 24, and 21 special teams snaps in Las Vegas’ first trio of games good for 82, 73, and 70 percent of the unit’s total. Harper, an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame, could be in line for more snaps on special teams, too. He was inactive the first two games of the season before playing 11 snaps on special teams against Carolina.

Contract Status

This is where it gets somewhat intriguing for the Raiders’ safety position. Epps is on the final year of a two-year, $12-million contract he signed in 2023 and he’s slated to be an unrestricted free agent this March. Moehrig is set to hit unrestricted free agency, too, as his rookie contract expires this offseason.

Pola-Mao on the other hand, will be a restricted free agent this offseason as his deal is up this offseason. He falls into this category as a player with three years of accrued NFL seasons. If the Raiders place a tender on Pola-Mao, they can match any offer sheet the safety is offered by another team. If draft pick value is attached to the tender, Las Vegas can receive that as compensation if Pola-Mao signed elsewhere. If the Raiders dub him an original round tender, they’d get nothing in return as the safety was an undrafted free agent.

That all said, there’s a chance the back end of the Raiders defense looks different next offseason.