Four Las Vegas Raiders players whose contributions could make or break the team’s 2022 season

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022 | 2 a.m.

The 2022-2023 Raiders’ season stands as one of the most anticipated in franchise history with the fan base’s optimism perhaps running higher than at any other point over the past 20 years. The primary driving force of the excitement is no secret—star power.

Las Vegas is suddenly as loaded with big-name players as any team in the NFL, especially at the skill positions. Ninth-year quarterback Derek Carr now stands as the second-longest tenured passer in the league on a single team (behind only current back-to-back MVP Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers), and Carr has quite the reward for his longevity.

His top four weapons coming into the year—wide receiver Davante Adams, slot receiver Hunter Renfrow, tight end Darren Waller and running back Josh Jacobs—have all made Pro Bowls. Carr also has one of the NFL’s better linemen protecting his blind side in left tackle Kolton Miller.

The defense also has a trio of Pro Bowl players who routinely make their way into highlight packages in edge rushers Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones and linebacker Denzel Perryman.

The nine aforementioned players make for a strong core at the top of the roster, but the Raiders will need more than that group alone to produce at a high level to meet their lofty expectations. Breakouts are tough to predict, but here are four under-the-radar players all across the roster—on offense, defense and special teams—who look poised to rise or continue building in the right direction.

Cornerback Nate Hobbs

Few defensive backs ever go out of their way to match up with Adams. Hobbs became one of the rare exceptions throughout training camp.

The second-year cornerback out of Illinois would cut the line in one-on-one drills to face off against the Raiders’ new $141 million receiver and welcome every chance for more work against him in full-team periods. While teammates presumably shied away from Adams to keep their practice film clean in an effort to make the official roster, Hobbs seemed more focused on the bigger picture.

He predicts he can one day emerge as an elite NFL cornerback and be tasked with following gamebreaking players around the field. Practicing against one every day could expedite that process.

“He’s one of the best players in the league, not even just receivers, so if you want to play at a high level and that’s my opponent, why wouldn’t I want to get those reps?” Hobbs asked.

Hobbs took some lumps against Adams, including one infamous example that saw Adams freeze Hobbs at the line of scrimmage, which leaked to social media. But Adams immediately jumped to Hobbs’ defense and tweeted that he’s “one of the best young defensive backs I’ve been around.”

It wasn’t just lip service. Hobbs noticeably improved against Adams as the summer stretched on, to the point where he was regularly getting the best of him. Hobbs began to look like a seasoned veteran at outside cornerback, quite impressive considering he had never played the spot professionally until August.

The 2021 fifth-round draft pick had an exceptional rookie season as a slot cornerback, which had many calling for him to get a chance on the outside. New coach Josh McDaniels and new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham initially appeared resistant, however, preferring Hobbs’ comfort and track record on the inside.

But injuries eventually forced their hand. Fellow cornerbacks Rock Ya-Sin, Anthony Averett and Trayvon Mullen (who has since been traded to Arizona) all missed multiple weeks of training camp, and Hobbs was pressed into action on the outside. He excelled both in practice and preseason games.

Now he could serve in either role during the regular season and might be on pace to arrive as the Raiders’ top cornerback, and potential lockdown defender, ahead of schedule.

“I felt like last year, I believed it, so I did it,” Hobbs said. “And I feel like it’s no different this year. I feel like believing is knowing. That’s what I stand on.”

Right guard Lester Cotton

Carr was making his rounds in the team cafeteria, getting to know some of his rookie teammates ahead of the Raiders’ final season in Oakland three years ago, when Cotton made a memorable first impression.

The undrafted free agent guard out of Alabama cut straight to the chase with the franchise quarterback. “What do I need to do be your starting guard,” Cotton asked Carr.

“I was like, ‘Wow, what a question,’” Carr remembered this summer. “I said, ‘Man, keep working your butt off.’”

The message was simple but powerful coming from Carr, and Cotton took it to heart, even though reaching his goal of becoming a starting NFL guard took longer than he expected. The Raiders waived Cotton four times—including in three straight years as part of final cut day heading into the regular season—but he never gave up on football.

The 26-year-old said the biggest “wake-up call” came before the 2020 season, when he felt he didn’t live up to his potential in training camp. The Raiders signed him to the practice squad after he failed to make the team in his rookie season but passed in his second year.

That rejection prompted him to change his diet and workout regimen during a full season away from the NFL. The Raiders again cut him before last season but kept him on the practice squad before elevating him to the active roster for four games at the end of the year.

Cotton performed well and built on that momentum during the offseason to ingratiate himself to the new coaching staff. He won the team’s “Samson Award,” reserved for the hardest workers in the weight room—an honor he described as “like winning the Super Bowl to me.”

McDaniels lived up to his promise of giving every player a fair shot to win a job regardless of their background or when they were drafted, with Cotton serving as the shining example. Miller was the only offensive lineman with his role secure coming into training camp, and Cotton became the improbable next one to claim a starting spot.

He often looked like he had the best footwork and quickness on the offensive line in training camp. Cotton had one rough preseason game at Miami but responded by grading as one of the top 10 linemen in the league by Pro Football Focus in the final week of exhibition games against New England.

It should have been no surprise. After all, bouncing back has become Cotton’s well-established specialty. “Everybody knows I went through a lot of tough times,” Cotton said. “It was real rough for me in the beginning. I had to grow out of it and mature.”

Kicker Daniel Carlson and punter A.J. Cole

The impact of kickers and punters on a team’s overall success is often minimized. Last year’s Raiders showed why that can be a mistake. Las Vegas would have never advanced to the playoffs for the first time in five years had it not been for Carlson and Cole putting together career years.

In his fourth season, Carlson set an NFL record with five walk-off, game-winning field goals.

Cole nearly set his own all-time mark in his third season, when his average punt distance hovered near Sammy Baugh’s 1940 record of 51.4 yards in the middle of the year. Cole’s average ultimately fell to 50 yards per punt, still good for eighth in NFL history.

That helped give the Raiders’ the second-best average starting field position in the league, as opponents started their drives a mean of 74 yards away from the end zone.

Las Vegas rewarded Cole and Carlson handsomely with long-term contracts—a 3-year, $12 million pact to Cole and 4-year, $18.4 million deal for Carlson—that could make them the rare specialists that turn into household names. The challenge in getting there will be maintaining their high standard, a notoriously difficult thing to do, since kicking is statistically one of the most volatile parts of football on a year-to-year basis.

But Carlson and Cole appear up for it, and they’ve pushed each other to try different things in training camp.

“Last season at this point doesn’t matter,” Carlson said. “Obviously, it’s nice to have that, but every year during camp I kind of write my own goals.”

Carlson didn’t share his personal goals coming into this season, but topping last year’s 93% field goal rate—which included making six of seven from 50-plus yards—should keep him occupied. Cole wants to get better directionally, since he feels his ability to place pinpoint punts along the sideline lags in comparison to his knack for distance and hangtime.

McDaniels, new special teams coach Tom McMahon and even new general manager Dave Ziegler (a special teams expert dating back to his days as a player in college) could help bring the best out of the pair. Despite their success, the Raiders ranked only 21st in the NFL in special teams efficiency by Football Outsiders’ DVOA ratings last year.

The mediocre standing was almost entirely because of poor kick and punt coverage units around Carlson and Cole, however. Ziegler and McDaniels were both part of the New England Patriots’ dynasty from 2002-2019, and one of the most overlooked hallmarks of that run was a consistent advantage on special teams.

They’ve overhauled the return teams around Carlson and Cole in what looks like an attempt to replicate the Patriot Way in Las Vegas.

“From a coaching standpoint, I think the biggest thing and the way I’m approaching it is consistency,” McMahon said. “We want the same ball all the time by both of them, because if they hit that same ball, that’s perfection.”