It’s probably safe to say this wasn’t the rookie season the Raiders were hoping to get from cornerback Damon Arnette.
The 19th overall pick in this year’s draft was handed the job out of camp. The Raiders liked what they saw in camp so much, they cut veteran Prince Amukamara who was supposed to be his primary competition for the job.
Three weeks into the season, Arnette wasn’t enjoying much success. But the opposing quarterbacks were. In the season opener in Carolina, for instance, Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater enjoyed a perfect passer rating when targeting Arnette’s man, including a 75-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson.
Since then, he’s played in just five full games due to injury as well as a stint on the reserve/COVID-19 list. And in those games, he didn’t play especially well.
“Yeah, he’s got to pick it up,” Jon Gruden said of Arnette Monday. “He’s got to get stronger. He broke his wrist in training camp. It makes it hard to lift weights, really makes it difficult. Missed some time with a concussion, had the coronavirus. Availability is a real concern right now, but he has to get in the weight room with Maxx and a lot of these young defensive players. He’s got to prove that he can stay available during these games. Disappointing rookie season, but very talented young man, though. We did not get all the things we expected from him for a lot of the reasons I just listed.”
With the Raiders’ defense being among the worst in the league, having yet another season without a first-round defender on the field (Johnathan Abram in 2019) for a good portion of the time can be frustrating.
Then, of course, there are the big, back-breaking plays like the one in which Arnette let Dolphins WR Mack Hollins get behind him to make a 34-yard catch that set up the game-winning field goal for Miami in the final seconds.
These issues are no reason to write off Arnette as a bust. There is still such thing as rookie mistakes and having a full offseason could do him wonders in terms of strength and durability.
Hopefully, for the Raiders part, Arnette takes his head coach’s words as motivation. Because this defense is going to need him to develop if they hope to see improvement from their defense next season.
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