One of the most talked about names out of training camp for the Raiders has been cornerback Jakorian Bennett. The rookie has had an excellent camp and it seems like he has a chance to be one of the team’s Week 1 starting (outside) cornerbacks.
With the Raiders set to host the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 of the preseason, Bennett should see a lot of snaps in that contest. And before the game has even started, he’s starting to get noticed by the national media.
In a recent article by NFL.com, they named one player for each team during Week 1 of the preseason that you should keep an eye on. For the Raiders, that player was none other than Bennett, who has been one of the stars of camp. Here is a snippet of what they had to say about the fourth-round pick from Maryland:
With Nate Hobbs moving inside to nickel, the Raiders could open the season with two new starting corners outside. One is expected to be recent signee Marcus Peters, who went from his couch to first-team reps in about a 48-hour span. But fourth-round rookie Jakorian Bennett is reportedly making a strong push for the other job. T
here’s deep competition there with a slew of candidates (Brandon Facyson, Duke Shelley, Amik Robertson, Tyler Hall and David Long Jr.), so every preseason game matters.
The Raiders do have a lot of competition at the cornerback spot, but this is a great opportunity for Bennett to separate himself from the pack.
Can he keep up the positive momentum from training camp and translate it to the preseason? That remains to be seen, but all of the buzz on Bennett this offseason has been overwhelmingly positive. It’ll be fun to finally see him on the field for the first time this year on Sunday.