Category: Raiders buzz

Busters for Raiders Week 18 loss to Chargers

The duds for the Raiders season finale loss to the Chargers.

Not surprisingly, the Raiders didn’t finish the season on a high note. They were facing a  playoff-bound Chargers team they had lost to in the season finale and the Raiders were in even worse shape for this one than they were for the season opener.

Busters

S Isaiah Pola-Mao

The Raiders were actually leading a couple times in the first half. The first time they went up 3-0 in the first quarter. Then on the second play of the Chargers next drive, Pola-Mao gave up a 47-yard catch that put them in scoring range and they tied it up 3-3.

The Raiders would respond with a touchdown drive to take a 10-3 lead. Then the first play of the ensuing drive, Pola-Mao gave up a 22-yard catch to put the Chargers instantly in plus territory. The Chargers would ultimately get another field goal out of it.

The lead would narrow even more on the next drive and it was Pola-Mao who gave up the longest catch of the drive for 17 yards to put them in field goal range.

After Aidan O’Connell threw an interception with a minute left in the second quarter, the Chargers quickly moved into first and goal on a 19-yard catch Pola-Mao allowed. After a spike, they would score the touchdown. They went for two, and it was Pola-Mao who lost track of Ladd McConkey for the score to make it a 17-10 Chargers lead at the half.

CB DeCamerion Richardson

On those last two Chargers possessions of the second quarter, Richardson gave up a 12-yard catch and a five-yard catch.

Still, it was a one-score game late in the third quarter. But it wouldn’t last. The final drive, saw Richardson give up a 14-yard catch on third and five. With the drive still alive, they would go for a touchdown to make it a two-score game to begin the fourth quarter.

The final drive would put the game away. It was led out by Richardson giving up a 39-yard catch, followed by an eight-yard catch that put the Chargers in scoring range to put the game away.

Quentin Johnston brutalized Richardson all game long. To the tune of career highs in catches (13) and yards (186). For perspective on this, in two full seasons, Johnston had never had more than five catches in a game. And this is just the second time he’s ever even surpassed 100 yards in a game.

LB Robert Spillane

The final two drives were brutal for Spillane. First he couldn’t make the tackle on Justin Herbert who ran past him 41 yards to put them in first and goal. They were in the end zone two plays later.

The final drive, Spillane gave up a 12-yard run, followed by a five-yard run, and then a first down on third and three to put them in first and goal. He would get blocked on the two-yard touchdown run as well.

QB Aidan O’Connell

The Raiders started the game with two straight three-and-outs, including a pass for no gain and an overthrow of Brock Bowers. The third drive also ended with O’Connell missing Bowers on an overthrow.

In the second quarter, with the Raiders up 10-9 and in the two-minute drill, O’Connell threw off target for Alexander Mattison short over the middle and was intercepted. It gave the Chargers the ball at the Vegas 30 with a minute remaining. They would get a touchdown out of it to take a 17-10 lead at the half.

Down two scores in the fourth. O’Connell was hurt momentarily and when he came back in, he found himself in third and ten. He threw incompletions on third and fourth down. nearly getting picked by Derwin James on a pass for Brock Bowers in the end zone to turn the ball over on downs.

The Chargers got the ball and drove for the game-clinching score.

See the Ballers.

Raiders team celebrates ‘dirty work’ WR Jakobi Meyers career milestone

The ultimate team guy Jakobi Meyers saw his team behind him as he reached 1000 yards in a season for the first time in his career.

It’s been a rough season for the Raiders. With not much to celebrate. That played out right to the end, with the team losing the season finale to the Chargers to finish 4-13. But in the midst of it all, they got to celebrate their ultimate team guy get a well deserved accomplishment. 

Jakobi Meyers is a beloved player on this Raiders squad. Having spent last season in the shadow of Davante Adams while catching a career-high eight touchdowns. To this season, watching the team fall into turmoil three weeks into the season and Adams force a trade to the Jets.

He took the hand he was dealt and went on to set several other career bests. He came into the season finale needing 96 yards to get to 1000 yards for the first time in his career. He finished the game with 123 yards to finish the season with 1027 yards. No one was more happy for him than his head coach, Antonio Pierce.

“To me it’s just the ultimate compliment for this player,” said Pierce. “He’s done all the dirty work, right? The crack blocks, the run blocking, reverses, throw the ball. Whatever we ask him to do. Now he gets the opportunity to showcase himself as a premiere or legit number one receiver and he put himself kind of in that category. And what I love about it is he didn’t really talk about that. He wanted to win. He understood. We all knew what was there and when we threw the ball to him, he made plays. But if you talk about a pro that’s been consistent since the day he walked in last year, it’s been Jakobi Meyers. He’s a team guy, he’s a tough guy, he’s an AP guy, he’s a Raider. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

After all the work Meyers put in these past two seasons, his team was determined for him to reach this milestone.

“This was a group effort,” said Meyers after the game. “This ain’t just me going out there running routes, asking for the ball. A lot of people wanted me to get there. So, it’s for all of us and we’re going to celebrate this whenever we can.”

Meyers finished the game with 123 yards on nine catches. His teammates couldn’t have been more happy for him, several of whom congratulating him, including Maxx Crosby who rolled over on his knee scooter to show him some love. 

Meyers was still in his pads, having been called to TV interviews immediately after the game “I haven’t even had a chance to breathe,” he said.

It is nice to have a bit of a silver lining on the dark cloud that hung over this team this year. You root for guys like Meyers to see some production in the form of stats to go along with all the value they bring and work they put in that doesn’t show up in their stat column.

Raiders trade massive haul to get No. 1 pick in recent Patriots mock draft

One Patriots writer projects the Raiders will send a serious amount of draft capital to New England to jump up to the number one pick.

The Raiders will have to get a quarterback this offseason. The big question is how aggressive they’re going to be to get one.

I recently suggested the Raiders go after one of the Vikings quarterbacks in trade, sending their top pick and perhaps more to get one of them.

But our friends over at Patriots Wire think the Raiders will go after their QB in the draft and the haul they project the Raiders to give up in order to jump from pick eight to number one is easily the most aggressive I’ve seen.

New England trades: 2025 first-rounder (No. 1)

Las Vegas trades: 2025 first-rounder (No. 8), 2025 second-rounder (No. 39), 2026 first-rounder, 2026 third-rounder, 2027 first-rounder, 2027 third-rounder

That’s right, they see the Raiders giving up six picks including three first rounders (!) to jump up seven spots from eight to one.

The trade, as they see it, is so the Raiders can secure Colorado QB Shadeur Sanders. Though some mock drafts of late actually have Miami’s Cam Ward rated higher.

Regardless of which QB the Raiders would be after, in this imagined trade, the Patriots “stockpile premium assets for future drafts,”

Yeah, to say the least.

The Patriots are in the position where they won’t be looking at getting a quarterback and therefore holding onto the top pick doesn’t carry as much value as trading out of it. But THAT much value??

It remains to be seen if the Patriots will even have the top pick after the season is over. They are set to face the Bills who are expected to rest their starters, so it’s entirely possible the Patriots win and another team lands that top pick. Though the Raiders aren’t one of them. They can do no better than the third overall pick due to their record (4-12) and strength of schedule.

Jalen Milroe declares for 2025 NFL Draft: Could Alabama QB be option for Raiders?

With Alabama QB Jalen Milroe making it official, he immediately becomes a potential option for the Raiders.

The depth at quarterback atop the 2025 NFL Draft got a boost Thursday. Alabama QB Jalen Milroe officially declared for the draft.

BREAKING: Alabama QB Jalen Milroe declares for the NFL Draft.

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— Chris Vannini (@chrisvannini.com) January 2, 2025 at 12:14 PM

The top two quarterbacks in this year’s draft are Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shadeur Sanders. Both QB’s are expected to come off the board in the top five, if not the top three. Leaving the teams outside the top 3-5 teams either taking a player at another position or potentially reaching for a quarterback.

The next two QB’s on the board are Milroe and Georgia’s Carson Beck. And there could be as many as five teams seriously considering taking one of them higher than their draft projections suggest.

Among those teams is the Raiders, who currently are in line for the eighth overall pick and whose range is from 3-10, depending on how things go with them and several other teams in the season finale.

In that range, they will have to give someone like Milroe a very hard look.

Milroe was considered one of the top QB prospects in the country following his redshirt sophomore season, but took a step back this past season. So much so, many thought he might return to school to try and raise his stock for the 2026 Draft. But today he decided being an NFL project in this weak QB class was his best option.

For those who think taking Milroe in the top ten is a mistake because it’s a reach, it’s important to remember everyone said the same about Washington’s Michael Penix and Oregon’s Bo Nix.

Penix was taken at eight overall by the Falcons and Nix was take at 12 by the Broncos. Nix went on to have a fantastic season, finishing third in the race for Offensive Rookie of the Year and Penix was named the starter for the Falcons two weeks ago and the Falcons are 1-1 in those games.

That’s not to say Milroe has that kind of potential of either Penix or Nix, but it does suggest that quarterbacks are not to be viewed the same as other positions in draft projections. They are often taken higher than other positions, because if you hit on one, it’s far more impactful than other position hits.

Raiders Pro Bowl snubs? Why yes of course

Even with two Raiders making the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl games roster, there were snubs.

While we recognize the accomplishments of those player who were named to the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl roster — including Raiders DE Maxx Crosby and TE Brock Bowers — it’s important to also mentioned those who seemed deserving but didn’t get the call.

Every year there are players who earned a real shot at being named to the Pro Bowl, but who were left off the initial squad. For the Raiders, there were a couple players who can claim they deserved a spot on the team but were left off of it.

LB Robert Spillane

Zaire Franklin and Roquan Smith were named to the Pro Bowl at inside linebacker. But are they more deserving than Spillane? Let’s see…

Spillane is currently fourth in the AFC in combined tackles (142). Only Franklin (165), Jamien Sherwood (148), and Smith (144) have more. And his 10 tackles for loss matches that of Franklin and Sherwood and far more than Smith (four).

As for pass breakups, Spillane (seven) has them all beat.

So, if you’re looking at stats alone, Franklin deserved to get in over Spillane. No question. But perhaps not Smith. Take a look at their side-by-side stats.

Stats Robert Spillane Roquan Smith
Games 16 15
Tackles 142 144
Solo tkls 85 78
Solo TPG 5.3 5.2
Run stops 50 40
TFL 10 4
Sacks 2 1.5
Int 2 1
PD 7 4
FF 0 1

As you can see, the only stats where Smith is better than Spillane are combined tackles (144) and forced fumbles (1). And considering it’s a difference of two tackles and one forced fumble, that could change by next week.

But Smith was an All Pro in 2023 and got more Pro Bowl fan votes, so he made the team over Spillane.

P AJ Cole

This is a stretch. And I’ll be the first to tell you Cole didn’t quite punt at the level we have come to expect from him this season and Logan Cooke deserved to be named the AFC punter.

That being said, even a down season for Cole was pretty good. He finished second in the AFC in gross punt average (50.1) behind only Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse. But Stonehouse had a terrible net average of 38.4 (30th). Cole finished 6th in the AFC in net punt average (42.2). He’d be top five if not for Ramel Keyton touching his perfect punt last Sunday against the Saints to turn a coffin corner into a touchback.

That became his seventh touchback of the season and those are what hurt his average the most. And, of course, that game where he had two of his punts blocked because of poor communication by his personal protector.

These things are not really taken into consideration, though, and with Cole not being next up in several key punting statistics, hard to imagine him even being the next man up if it came to that.

Should historic season for Raiders TE Brock Bowers earn him Offensive Rookie of the Year?

Despite the historic season for Raiders TE Brock Bowers, he is unlikely to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

By any measure, Brock Bowers is having a truly historic season. Only four rookies have ever had 100 catches or more in a season. And he topped them all.

The first rookie to ever surpass the 100-catch mark was Anquan Boldin baxk in 2003. He had 101 catches that season. Bowers hit that number in 15 games.

Then it was Jaylen Waddle who, in 2021 set the record at 104 catches. It was broken last season by Puka Nacua, but it took Nacua 17 games to do it. He too had 101 after 16 games.

Bowers has 108 catches in 16 games. A tremendous feat by any measure. It also means taking the Raiders franchise record from Darren Waller is also legit.

That’s to say nothing of him breaking the rookie tight end yards mark that stood for 63 years. Mainly because the other records are tops regardless of positions.

Unfortunately for Bowers, his position is going to be the thing that turns all these records into no additions to his trophy case.

Washington QB Jayden Daniels is so far and away the favorite for Offensive Rookie of the Year, BetMGM doesn’t even list it among their odds. And those who do list them still, Bowers is second, but the lines are so sizable, you’d obviously be throwing your money away even placing a bet.

Make no mistake, Daniels is deserving. He’s had a tremendous season, throwing for 3530 yards and rushing for 864 more with 31 combined touchdowns (six rushing) and just nine interceptions. The rushing yards total is a rookie QB record. Breaking the mark set by Robert Griffin III who also won ORoY in 2012.

No matter how many people tout Bowers as their choice for Rookie of the Year, they do so knowing he will go unrecognized among the rookie awards.

Yeah, he’ll be a Pro Bowler. And he may even be an All Pro. He does, after all, lead all NFL tight ends in catches (108) and receiving yards (1144).

The only tight end who might have a case for being selected All Pro over Bowers would be Georgie Kittle who is 65 yards behind him and has four more touchdowns.

And should Bowers land a spot on that team, it would be a big accomplishment and undoubtedly a great honor. But those are not individual awards.

Unlike college, where they have position specific awards — Bowers is the only two-time Mackey Award winner in history — the NFL has only offensive and defensive awards. And the OROY Award ALWAYS goes to either a quarterback, running back, or wide receiver. It has NEVER gone to a tight end.

If there were ever a year for that to change, it would be after the season Bowers is having. But it won’t.

So, enjoy the congrats from your teammates and those balls for the rookie and franchise records you broke this past week, Brock. They are the closest thing to a trophy you’ll receive to recognize your historic season.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 17 win over Saints

Who stood out among the individual performances in the Raiders win in New Orleans?

It’s too little, way too late, but the Raiders had their best overall game of the season on Sunday in New Orleans.

After falling behind 7-3 early in the second quarter, they came back to take a 13-10 lead before the half and never looked back. The offense added 12 points in the second half while holding the Saints scoreless for the 25-10 win.

Ballers

QB Aidan O’Connell

O’Connell passes were the catalyst for both the Raiders’ touchdown drives. The first pass was a gorgeous, perfect throw to Jacobi Meyers, who made an over-the-shoulder grab for 29 yards to put the Raiders in scoring range. He connected with Brock Bowers for 17 yards on the next play. Then after a run to mix it up, the found Meyers again for the touchdown from three yards out.

The other touchdown drive, O’Connell found Bowers again on third down for 13 yards. A few plays later, on third and six, he bought some time, and while falling away, launched a pass, finding Tre Tucker in the back corner of the end zone for the clincher.

He also had a deep completion to Terrace Marshall on the Raiders’ second scoring drive, and a tight window completion to Meyers on the first scoring drive of the second half.

LB Robert Spillane

Spillane terrorized the Saints in the third quarter. The first possession he had a run stuff and a pressure on third down to force an incompletion. Next drive he ended by nearly intercepting a pass that may have been a house call. He was frustrated he didn’t get the pick, so he took it out on Spencer Rattler by breaking up another pass and then sacking Rattler to end the next possession.

He led the team with eight tackles (four solo), with two for a loss, a sack, and two pass breakups.

RB Ameer Abdullah

Abdullah had his first career 100-yard rushing game. He finished with 115 yards on the ground and added three catches for 32 yards for a total of 147 yards from scrimmage.

He was the main factor in the first drive, rushing seven times for 41 yards and catching a 12-yard pass that looked for a moment like it might be a touchdown, but was ruled just short of the end zone. Unfortunately the Raiders couldn’t get that extra few inches and settled for a field goal. But the run was established.

Abdullah added an 11-yard run on the next scoring drive that put the Raiders in field goal range. Then his 13-yard run set up the Raiders with first and goal at the three and they retook the lead before the half.

He would get over the 100-yard hump late in the third quarter on an eight-yard run that led out a field goal drive that gave their their first two-score lead.

TE Brock Bowers

Not only did he lead the Raiders in receiving with seven catches for 77 yards, he set three huge records along the way.

Late in the second quarter, he made a 13-yard catch that broke Mike Ditka’s rookie tight end receiving yards record that had stood for 63 years. He added a 17-yard catch a few plays later and the Raiders went on to get their first touchdown of the day to take a 13-7 lead.

Late in the third quarter, he caught two passes for 26 yards and broke the rookie receptions record which was set last year by Puka Nacua. Of course, Nacua set it in 17 games and Bowers just broke it in 16. But who’s counting. The Raiders went on to add another field goal to take a two-score lead at 19-10.

On the next drive, Bowers would catch a 13-yard pass on third and five and break the Raiders franchise single-season receptions record. Three plays later, the Raiders scored the touchdown to put the game out of reach.

CB Jack Jones

Jones led the team with three pass breakups. He also had a diving interception off a deflection and the Raiders scored the game-clinching touchdown on the ensuing drive.. Then he nearly had a second interception to end any chance the Saints might try and come back.

WR Jakobi Meyers

The first touchdown drive saw Meyers get behind his defender and Aidan O’Connell drop on in his bread basket for a 29-yard completion. Meyers tracked the ball over his shoulder to make a nice grab. Three plays later, he went on a quick out from three yards out and caught the touchdown.

Meyers also had a tight window 19-yard grab on the Raiders scoring drive to lead out the third quarter.

DT Adam Butler. DE Tyree Wilson

Butler’s run stuff for no gain ended the Saints first possession. And he made the stop to end their first drive of the second quarter.

At the end of the second quarter, the Saints drive into scoring range. It stalled with Wilson getting a QB hit and then a pressure to force an incompletion.

Late in the fourth quarter, on the Saints last gasp, Butler led a three-and-out with a tackle on a short catch and Wilson teamed up for the sack to clinch the win.

LT Kolton Miller

Not only did he give O’Connell plenty of time to throw, but he was also several times opening holes and getting the second level to help Abdullah have his career day on the ground. Best game of the season for Miller.

K Daniel Carlson

Carlson scored 13 of the Raiders 25 points in the game. He was four for four on field goals including a 54-yarder in the third quarter that put the Raiders up 16-10.

Busters

None

While there were mistakes made, none were glaring and no one had a particularly bad day. Any Busters from this one would be reaching.

Raiders first offseason move should be to go hard after Vikings QB

We’re a week away from the Raiders’ offseason. At which point they should be full board focused on landing one of the Vikings’ quarterbacks.

Sunday the Raiders beat the Saints to win their fourth game of the season, thus pushing them down the draft order considerably. Currently they sit at No. 8 according to Tankathon.com. And in terms of getting one of the draft’s top quarterbacks, that’s just not good enough.

There is simply no way the Raiders can go ANOTHER offseason without getting a quarterback. They struck out on quarterbacks each of the past two offseasons and the results were entirely predictable.

Their best bet would be to go hard after a Vikings QB. And I mean BOTH of them and hope to land one of them.

Last offseason, the Vikings started out their offseason by signing former Jets top pick Sam Darnold as a free agent. They did so despite having the 10th overall pick in the draft, because they couldn’t afford to have all the top QB’s gone by the time they picked. And Darnold was considered a bust, having spent the previous season as a backup in San Francisco. So, the move was just considered a depth/insurance addition.

When their pick came up in the draft, Michigan QB JJ McCarthy was the top signal caller on the board, and they took him, planning on making him the day one starter.

The reigning National Championship QB would go down with injury before the start of the season, and that Darnold insurance plan needed to be cashed in after all.

Since then Darnold has had a resurgent season. Looking every bit the QB who was taken third overall six years prior and leading the Vikings to a 14-2 record, including a big division win over the rival Packers on Sunday. And there’s still the playoffs to think about, which could raise his star even more.

This has left the Vikings with a dilemma — stick with the hot hand in Darnold or turn back to the young hopeful McCarthy.

There will be several other teams who will do their best to influence the Vikings’ decision here. And the Raiders need to be one of those teams.

Let’s start with Darnold.

Even if the Vikings don’t see Darnold as their starter moving forward, it’s highly unlikely they let him simply walk for nothing. Most likely they would slap him with the franchise tag and then try to trade him to a team that will then look to sign him long term.

This is a risky move for any team as you’d be betting that Darnold could have the same success away from Kevin O’Connell despite the fact that Darnold had never had success his previous six seasons with three different clubs. But there is a reason he was chosen as high as he was in the draft. And teams will be willing to bet on him to see if he was just a late bloomer.

So, what about JJ McCarthy?

The Vikings could turn around a former top ten pick for another top ten pick should they choose to do so. In fact, it’s possible they could do it for an even higher pick than where they selected him.

Some believe McCarthy would be at very least a top two QB in this year’s draft, if not the top QB. Currently there are seven teams with a major need at the position and just two top flight options — Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward.

This means, for a team like the Raiders, who could be picking in the bottom portion of the top ten, McCarthy could be a far more attractive option. Hell, he could be their ONLY real option.

Should the Raiders pick at eight, sending that pick to Minnesota for McCarthy would be preferable to attempting to trade up to get either Sanders or Ward — a move that could potentially cost multiple first round picks.

The Raiders could even sweeten the deal by tossing in a late round pick or future mid-round pick and it would probably still be worth it.

Another benefit to getting one of these quarterbacks is the trade would happen in mid-March — a full six weeks prior to the draft. Getting that glaring need out of the way as early as possible would be a tremendous weight off of them come the draft.

No one really knows what the Vikings plan to do with these two quarterbacks. They are sitting on a gold mine either way. as many teams will be in play for either of them

It’s possible the Raiders could lose out to one of those other teams. But they need to exhaust all resources in their attempts to get one of these two QBs.

Raiders DT Adam Butler proved he is every-down player, will his contract goals follow?

Adam Butler had two goals this season — proving he was an every-down player and getting a better contract. He accomplished one… so far.

This past offseason, the Raiders made a big splash at defensive tackle, adding Pro Bowler Christian Wilkins. Shortly thereafter, they made another move that flew more under the radar, but ultimately even more impactful — they brought back Adam Butler.

Butler had proven himself to be a valuable rotational, situational interior defensive lineman. Enough so that he thought he would garner better offers as a free agent in the offseason. But his contract goals never materialized, so ultimately he returned to the Raiders on a one-year, $1.9 million deal.

In my eyes, Butler had proven himself last season and the Raiders needed to be aggressive in getting him back. To their credit, they seemed to realize what the market would be for Butler and got him back on their original offer. For Butler, that meant he simply hadn’t done enough to raise his visibility around the league.

“I have a new attitude. I really do. I want to be seen,” Butler said during training camp. “I want to show up because I still feel like in this league I have something to prove. And I want to prove it to my teammates, I want to prove it to my coaches, and I want to let everyone know I’m here. I’m not going back to just being third down. I’m here, I’m here for the early downs, the whole thing.”

Butler was candid about his goals to get a better contract. And that proving he was an every-down player was the key to getting it.

He did that this season.

Over his first six NFL seasons Butler had compiled 13 total starts. This season, he has 14 starts already.

He has seen the majority of the snaps in every game this season, including surpassing 76% of the snaps 10 times — something he accomplished just once over his first six seasons in the NFL.

His sack (3.5), tackle for loss (seven), and QB hit (eight) numbers are at or near the same as they were last season. But his 57 combined tackles (32 solo) is already a career high by a wide margin. In fact, those numbers are approaching the levels of even his two best seasons combined (62).

Not to mention the things he does that don’t even show up on the stat sheet. Including his energy and locker room presence.

“With the loss of Christian [Wilkins], I think he’s really done a good job. . . handling his business,” Antonio Pierce said of Butler. “From batted balls, which I think we’re one of the top teams in, and he’s one of the best at doing it, from him reading screens. Going back to Baltimore and chasing down the screen play. His hustle, his effort, his energy, he does that little street fighter move, ‘Hadouken,’ all that good stuff. That gets everybody fired up. So, his energy and his brightness and his love for game is contagious.”

These are qualities his teammates, like Maxx Crosby and Christian Wilkins will no doubt go to bat for.

It’s safe to say Butler has achieved his goal of proving he is an every down player, with the ability to rush the passer and stop the run with equal proficiency. And he is a tremendous presence as a teammate as well. The Raiders have taken notice. If the rest of the NFL has noticed as well, the Raiders better make sure their contract offer to him reflects that.

Isaiah Pola-Mao a viable option to remain Raiders starting safety in 2025 and beyond

The former undrafted free agent has worked his way up from special teamer to Raiders replacement starter and could keep his job next season.

The second quarter of Sunday’s game in Las Vegas was a coming out party of sorts for Isaiah Pola-Mao. The third-year safety ended two Jaguars drives with forced fumbles.

The first punch-out gave the Raiders an extra possession. The second one took a score off the board as the Jaguars had driven into field goal range and sent the two teams to the half with the Raiders holding a 13-7 lead.

Pola-Mao has been starting at safety for the Raiders since Week four, after the loss of Marcus Epps for the season with an ACL injury.

While it hasn’t always been great play for Pola-Mao, the former undrafted free agent held his own in his first real NFL starting opportunity. One that was three years in the making.

“He’s been learning how to play in this league on special teams, correcting some of the stuff we saw from college that he needed to get corrected with his tackling,” Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham said of Pola-Mao. “He’s done a good job with that. And then when he gets his opportunity, he makes the most of it. Talking about guys you’re proud of in terms of his growth and development, he’s one of them.”

Pola-Mao has hung around these past three seasons, mostly on special teams. He had never started a game on defense and only once saw more than 35% of the snaps in a game.

But for a guy in his position, he became a hot topic in training camp for the plays he was making. He had earned the confidence of the coaching staff to be the next man up both at safety and big nickel. So, when it was his time to step into a starting role, he was ready.

“It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, just throw him in.’ No, we were ready for him to play,” said head coach Antonio Pierce. “And all he’s done is taken every advantage of it. He’s vocal. He has a quiet . . . confidence about himself now. He has all the ability in the world; tall, long, can run, ball skills, physicality showed up [Sunday]. He’s really put himself in a good place. And it really started in the offseason when he was here every day after the Super Bowl.”

Marcus Epps is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. As is fellow starter Tre’von Moehrig. While Pola-Mao will be a restricted free agent the Raiders could easily retain with a tender.

Which means they could focus on re-signing Moehrig, allow Epps to hit free agency and have Pola-Mao and Moehrig as their projected starters next season while focusing on other position upgrades.