Today is Damon Arnette’s Birthday. The Raiders rookie cornerback turns 24 today, making him tied with Isaiah Johnson as the second-oldest cornerback on the Raiders’ roster. Yes, I said oldest. As a rookie. At 24 years of age.
Arnette was selected by the Raiders at 19 overall in April’s draft. He was expected to wait behind veteran addition Prince Amukamara to start at cornerback across from second-year cornerback Trayvon Mullen.
That wait didn’t last even until the season. Amukamara was released this week, thus making Arnette the starter from day one. Making him and Mullen one of the youngest and least experienced starting outside cornerback tandems in the league.
“Just keeping the best guys is all we’re doing,” Jon Gruden said of the move to release Amukamara. “Prince is a good player, I’m sure he’ll latch on with somebody. We’re going to be young. I’ve been criticized for [my players] being too old. We’re going to keep the best players and try to continue to develop them. . . We’re hoping that we have the makings of a good young secondary that can be great someday. They’re going to be tested, we know that, but we didn’t draft these guys to stand on the sideline.”
Starting rookies has been common for the Raiders since Gruden arrived. Safety Johnathan Abram was the day one starter last year. Mullen also started as a rookie last season, though that didn’t happen until midway through last season after the team traded away former top pick Gareon Conley.
As I noted recently, the only veteran left in the group is 29-year-old Lamarcus Joyner. All other cornerbacks were either drafted or signed as undrafted free agents since last year.
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