Raiders’ Trayvon Mullen could continue on star turn against Stefon Diggs, Bills

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020 | 2 a.m.

As the oldest and most experienced member of the Raiders’ cornerback corps, Nevin Lawson is constantly answering questions and chatting with the younger players at his position group.

For most of them, that means a lot of football and technique talk. Starting cornerback Trayvon Mullen is different, as Lawson has found himself discussing mentality and mindset more often with the second-year player out of Clemson.

“I think he’s more hard on himself than anyone else,” Lawson said. “Sometimes I have to talk to him and remind him not to be too hard on yourself, even though that’s a good thing. I feel like his roof is limitless and he could be as good as he wants to be.”

All the Raiders are beginning to see the high-level potential of the 23-year-old Mullen, who’s arguably been Las Vegas’ most valuable player — at least on defense — through a 2-1 start to the season. Pass rush and run defense continue to be major concerns for the Raiders, but there’s little doubt their coverage has improved so far as they’ve given up 0.5 yards less per pass attempt than a year ago.

The drop is mostly Mullen’s doing.

Pro Football Focus rates the 6-foot-2, 200-pound former second-round pick as the sixth best cornerback in the NFL in the 2020 season. Isolate for press-man coverage, and Mullen has PFF’s highest grade in the league.

“Trayvon is getting better,” coach Jon Gruden said. “He’s still a young player. I thought he played very well last week in New England and he’s definitely on his way up as a very good corner in this league.”

It almost sounds as if the Raiders’ coaching staff would prefer to keep Mullen’s ascent a secret. Or, perhaps more likely, they just don’t want to overreact to a small sample size of games.

There’s no taking away his success, but circumstances have benefitted Mullen in the Raiders’ first three games. Two of their opponents, the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots, have among the weakest receiving corps in the league. That’s not true of the New Orleans Saints, but they were without top receiver Michael Thomas in a week 2 trip to Allegiant Stadium.

The competition will increase this week when Las Vegas hosts the Buffalo Bills at 1:25 p.m. Sunday. Stefon Diggs is one of the best receivers in the NFL and currently sits fourth in the league with 288 receiving yards.

That gives Mullen a chance to show far how he’s come, a chance he’s cherishing.

“It’s going to be a challenge this week,” Mullen said. “I know he’s top five in receiving yards right now, which makes me more excited to go against him. It’s going to be a competitive matchup. I’m excited and ready for it.”

Gruden and defensive coordinator Paul Guenther were quick to point out that Mullen would not be shadowing Diggs on Sunday. Diggs lines up all over the field for the Bills and the Raiders have traditionally kept their cornerbacks on one side — a method they used on 73 percent of snaps last season, per Football Outsiders — and plan to continue to do so.

Still, Mullen would project to get more snaps against Diggs than anyone else, and to this point of the season, he’s shut down whomever he’s covered. On 10 targets to receivers Mullen has been covering this season, there’s only been five receptions for 36 yards, according to Pro Football Reference.

He also sits tied for third in the NFL with four passes defensed.

“I think he’s made a leap this year and I feel like it’s all mental,” Lawson said. “I feel like it was always mental for him because he has the physical traits to be one of the best corners in this league.”

But there are areas where Mullen can improve physically too. The only reason Pro Football Focus doesn’t grade him higher overall is because its scouting has revealed him as being a liability in the run game.

The entire Las Vegas defense was a liability against the run in the loss to New England, and Guenther chalked it up to poor tackling. He said he counted 19 missed tackles, and Mullen was part of the problem by the cornerback’s own admission.

He said tackling has been an emphasis among the cornerbacks this week.

“We’ve just got to grow and trust each other,” Mullen said. “I feel like we will get better as a group.”

They’ll have to manage some adversity and injury loss to realize that goal. Rookie Damon Arnette has started alongside Mullen at cornerback for the first three games, but Las Vegas added him to injured reserve Friday after he underwent surgery for a broken thumb.

Lawson will therefore slide into Arnette’s spot with rookie Amik Robertson and second-year pro Isaiah Johnson providing depth. It’s not an ideal week to restructure considering the Raiders will be facing something entirely different than they’ve seen so far this year in the Bills’ passing game.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen has completed more passes and posted a higher passing rating on downfield throws, defined by Pro Football Reference as attempts that travel at least 15 yards in the air, than anyone else in the NFL. He’s logged 8.5 intended air yards per throw, a significant increase from the Raiders’ first three opponents as Carolina’s Teddy Bridgewater, New Orleans’ Drew Brees and New England’s Cam Newton averaged a combined 6.03 yards.

The latter three are all in the bottom seven of the NFL in the category. Buffalo is going to test Las Vegas in a new way, and the Raiders just might get more of an idea if they have a true No. 1, lockdown cornerback in the process.

“I knew I needed improvement so I dialed in like I should each week into the edge I was going to bring in week 3,” Mullen said. “I had a certain mindset that I will have each week going forward from now.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.