Raiders: Josh McDaniels is already seeing special things in rookie CB Jakorian Bennett
Heading into the 2023 NFL Draft, we were almost 100% positive the Las Vegas Raiders would use one of their 12 picks on a defensive back. It is by far their worst position group and one of the worst in the league, so why wouldn't they?One of the guys they drafted is former Maryland cornerback […]
Heading into the 2023 NFL Draft, we were almost 100% positive the Las Vegas Raiders would use one of their 12 picks on a defensive back. It is by far their worst position group and one of the worst in the league, so why wouldn't they?
One of the guys they drafted is former Maryland cornerback Jakorian Bennett, who ran one of the fastest 40-yard dashes at the NFL Draft Combine. Bennett was drafted to try and start building an eventual great secondary with him, Marcus Epps, Christopher Smith, and Nate Hobbs.
When Bennett was drafted, a few people weren't the happiest. By people, we are talking about the Raiders fan base. It had nothing to do with Bennett and his skill level but more to do with who was also available on the board and the chances the Raiders had to draft a better guy higher in the draft.
It's training camp time now. The boys are out in the heat, and while everyone is getting their work in, head coach Josh McDaniels has noticed something special about Bennett.
"He's mature, really a pleasure to work with," he said to the media. "Takes the game very seriously, intelligent, can learn quickly, and then take it from the meeting room to the field. You've seen him compete on some down-the-field throws. It's hard to run by the guy because he runs very well, and he's trying to get his hands on balls, which we saw in college as well.
"So, he is just a competitive guy, a good leader, and quiet at times when he's really paying attention. He does a really good job of understanding the material and works really hard at it. And again, there's a lot of those guys, I think, in this class, that kind of fit the same mold, but JB has done a good job so far."
Now how is this something special? Well, you don't usually hear things like that about rookies. You really never hear or see a rookie cornerback being a great leader. They usually start doing that later in their career. Think bout some of the best cornerbacks in the league; Sauce Gardner and Patrick Surtain are only some of the biggest leaders in their defense. Meanwhile, Jalen Ramsey is.
The other thing that makes him special that McDaniels has noticed is that Bennett is mature. It's something about the cornerback position that screams immature at times. Then you throw in that he's a rookie on top of that, and that's special.
Bennett is having a great camp so far, as we keep hearing about him from beat reporters and insiders at the camp. If he keeps this up, he could end up fighting for a starting spot, and a big reason why is because of his maturity and leadership qualities.
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