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Sam Webb joined the Las Vegas Raiders as an undrafted free agent last year and quickly made a name for himself. He was able to make the 53-man roster out of training camp and played all 17 games, including three starts.
This year, he wasn’t able to make the 53-man roster but was brought back on the practice squad. However, that didn’t last long. According to a September 13 X post from MLFootball, the Carolina Panthers are poaching Webb from the Raiders’ practice squad and signing him to their active roster.
Las Vegas brought in several new cornerbacks this offseason so Webb’s chances of getting significant playing time took a hit. He’ll have a much better chance to see the field in Carolina. The Panthers are coming off an ugly 24-10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1 and they need some pieces. It remains to be seen just how good Webb can be but he has potential. He was solid for the Raiders last season and had three passes deflected to go along with 36 combined tackles.
Jakorian Bennett Has Earned the Respect of Coaches
One of the biggest surprises of training camp was rookie fourth-round pick Jakorian Bennett. He quickly started to earn first-team reps in practice and eventually solidified himself as a starter opposite Marcus Peters. He had some growing pains in his first career game against the Denver Broncos as he committed two pass interference penalties but his head coach was still happy with what he saw from Bennett.
“JB [Bennett] did a nice job, had a few opportunities there to make some open field tackles, and I thought he did a decent job of getting the guy to the ground,” McDaniels told reporters during his September 11 media availability. “So, our corners need to do that if they’re going to go in there and crack the safeties and all the rest of it, so at some point, the corner’s going to have to be out there isolated on the edge one-on-one, and I thought JB did a good job of getting them to the ground.”
Bennett finished with a rough 50.9 Pro Football Focus grade, which was the fifth-worst on the team. It was his first game so there’s expected to be growing pains but the Raiders coaching staff appears confident he’ll keep getting better.
Jakorian Bennett Talks Aggressive Playing Style
Jakorian Bennett is a strong fit in a man coverage defense due to his aggressive playing style. However, it already got him into trouble in Week 1 with officials penalizing him. He’ll know more about what he can get away with as he plays more games but he’s not going to stop being aggressive.
“It’s football,” Bennett said in a September 13 interview with Tashan Reed of The Athletic. “You’ve just got to go out there and trust yourself and just play aggressive. … As long as you’re just running to the ball, pursuing, playing with a lot of effort and a lot of energy, then whatever comes with it, that’s what comes with it.”
The Raiders haven’t had a consistent rotation at cornerback for a long time but early signs are pointing toward Bennett being a potential long-term piece for the defense.
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