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The start of Damon Arnette’s NFL career couldn’t have gone worse. Before the season even began, he injured his thumb and has been forced to wear a cast around it ever since. Then in Week 1, he allowed a perfect passer rating and nearly lost his team the game after allowing a 75-yard touchdown to Robby Anderson.
Since then, things have gotten quite a bit better for the rookie cornerback. While he has yet to record an interception and teams are still picking on him a bit in coverage, he’s performed well in the run and opponents are targeting him at a much lower rate.
In a recent piece by Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus, he wrote about every first-round picks performance through the first three weeks of the season. Here is what he had to say about Arnette so far:
“For the season so far, Arnette’s coverage numbers aren’t good — he has allowed a 149.1 passer rating and 10 catches on the 11 targets thrown his way — but his grade hasn’t been disastrous and he has impressed against the run. Given how big a reach many thought this pick was, the Ohio State product hasn’t had a terrible start to his NFL career.”
The Raiders know that starting a rookie cornerback will mean there are going to be rough patches throughout the season. But the hope is that he can improve as the year goes on. So far, that’s exactly what has happened as Arnette bounced back from a poor Week 1 game against the Panthers.
If he can continue this upward trajectory over the next few months, the Raiders could be set at cornerback with Trayvon Mullen on the other side. Arnette will be tested in a big way this week as Buffalo has a dynamic receiving corps with Stefon Diggs, John Brown and Cole Beasley. Week 4 figures to be a big measuring stick for the Raiders and Arnette’s development.
[lawrence-newsletter]