Just prior to Sunday’s game against the Broncos, the Raiders got back nickel cornerback Nate Hobbs from the reserve/COVID-19 list. Then, shockingly, he didn’t see a snap on defense.
Hobbs was instead replaced in the slot by former undrafted CB Keisean Nixon who would end up playing 76% of the snaps (32). He wasn’t the only reserve to step up and play big minutes. In fact he was one of three defense backs to step up with starters out.
This past week the Raiders placed safety Johnathan Abram and CB Trayvon Mullen on injured reserve. They also placed CB Brandon Facyson — who had been starting in place of the injured Mullen much of the season — on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
In their place, two Raiders DB’s got their first starts of the season.
Talk about going deep into the depth chart.
Dallin Leavitt got the start and played every snap (42) at strong safety while Desmond Trufant — who was just signed in late October and who just last week played a grand total of two snaps — started at outside corner and missed just one snap (41).
The only full time starting DB’s to play on defense were FS Tre’von Moehrig and CB Casey Hayward.
It worked out well considering the Raiders gave up just eight first downs in the game and 10 of the Broncos’ 13 points came off turnovers.
| OFFENSE | Spec Tms | ||||
| Player | Pos | Num | Pct | Num | Pct |
| Brandon Parker | T | 69 | 100% | 3 | 14% |
| Kolton Miller | T | 69 | 100% | 3 | 14% |
| Alex Leatherwood | T | 69 | 100% | 3 | 14% |
| John Simpson | G | 69 | 100% | 3 | 14% |
| Derek Carr | QB | 69 | 100% | 0 | 0% |
| Andre James | C | 69 | 100% | 0 | 0% |
| Foster Moreau | TE | 65 | 94% | 7 | 32% |
| Zay Jones | WR | 52 | 75% | 0 | 0% |
| Josh Jacobs | RB | 48 | 70% | 0 | 0% |
| Hunter Renfrow | WR | 40 | 58% | 5 | 23% |
| DeSean Jackson | WR | 36 | 52% | 0 | 0% |
| Nick Bowers | TE | 26 | 38% | 4 | 18% |
| Tyron Johnson | WR | 18 | 26% | 5 | 23% |
| Dillon Stoner | WR | 14 | 20% | 0 | 0% |
| Daniel Helm | TE | 13 | 19% | 9 | 41% |
| Peyton Barber | RB | 12 | 17% | 4 | 18% |
| Sutton Smith | FB | 11 | 16% | 10 | 45% |
| Jalen Richard | RB | 10 | 14% | 1 | 5% |
| DEFENSE | Spec Tms | ||||
| Player | Pos | Num | Pct | Num | Pct |
| Dallin Leavitt | FS | 42 | 100% | 15 | 68% |
| Trevon Moehrig | FS | 42 | 100% | 12 | 55% |
| Casey Hayward | CB | 41 | 98% | 5 | 23% |
| Desmond Trufant | CB | 41 | 98% | 1 | 5% |
| Denzel Perryman | LB | 39 | 93% | 0 | 0% |
| Keisean Nixon | CB | 32 | 76% | 16 | 73% |
| Maxx Crosby | DE | 32 | 76% | 5 | 23% |
| Divine Deablo | LB | 32 | 76% | 3 | 14% |
| Yannick Ngakoue | DE | 31 | 74% | 1 | 5% |
| Quinton Jefferson | DT | 30 | 71% | 4 | 18% |
| Darius Philon | DT | 24 | 57% | 2 | 9% |
| Solomon Thomas | DT | 20 | 48% | 5 | 23% |
| K.J. Wright | LB | 13 | 31% | 1 | 5% |
| Damion Square | NT | 11 | 26% | 3 | 14% |
| Carl Nassib | DE | 11 | 26% | 0 | 0% |
| Clelin Ferrell | DE | 10 | 24% | 13 | 59% |
| Tyree Gillespie | SS | 6 | 14% | 8 | 36% |
| Cory Littleton | LB | 5 | 12% | 19 | 86% |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | Spec Tms | ||||
| Player | Pos | Num | Pct | Num | Pct |
| Marquel Lee | LB | 0 | 0% | 19 | 86% |
| Patrick Onwuasor | LB | 0 | 0% | 12 | 55% |
| Kavon Frazier | FS | 0 | 0% | 8 | 36% |
| Daniel Carlson | K | 0 | 0% | 7 | 32% |
| Nate Hobbs | CB | 0 | 0% | 6 | 27% |
| Trent Sieg | LS | 0 | 0% | 5 | 23% |
| AJ Cole III | P | 0 | 0% | 5 | 23% |
| Amik Robertson | CB | 0 | 0% | 4 | 18% |
| Nick Martin | C | 0 | 0% | 3 | 14% |
| Lester Cotton | G | 0 | 0% | 3 | 14% |