DB could be in for a big year
One storyline at the end of last season that got somewhat lost in the shuffle for the Las Vegas Raiders was the emergence of cornerback Tyler Hall.
After never really seeing the field with the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams during the first two years of his career, Hall signed to the Raiders practice squad mid-season and was added to the active roster in Week 11. While he only played in seven games, he ended up finishing as the team’s highest-graded cornerback (86.9), according to Pro Football Focus.
Partially because of that, PFF’s Zoltan Buday listed Hall as Las Vegas’ breakout candidate for the upcoming campaign.
“It is yet to be seen how big of a role Hall can have on the Raiders’ defense, as he is projected to be a backup cornerback in 2023,” Buday wrote. “However, based on his play in 2022, he could very well earn some additional playing time and be expected to take advantage of that. He only played in the second half of the 2022 season and was on the field for just 218 snaps. Nevertheless, he earned the third-highest coverage grade among cornerbacks over the last eight weeks of the season. In addition, he allowed just 0.28 receiving yards per coverage snap, which was the lowest mark in the entire league.”
As Buday mentions, Hall will have to compete for playing time in training camp, but he’ll certainly have some momentum heading into the position battle after playing so well last season.
In other Raiders’ links:
- Greg Van Roten signed: the veteran could compete for a starting spot in Las Vegas.
- Defensive tackles on the hot seat: the Raiders added two more DTs during the draft as the rest of the position group should be put on notice heading into training camp.
- Rams/Raiders to hold joint practices: “The Raiders will face the Rams in their second preseason game on Saturday August 19, so the joint practices will occur in the days leading up to the game,” via Raiders Wire.
- PFT stirs up Davante Adams trade rumors: “As someone in league circles pointed out, perhaps Adams was trying to make the point that his issue is with someone else. Someone perhaps not in the photo,” writes Mike Florio.