The Las Vegas Raiders surrendered 216.2 passing yards per game in 2024, ranking 16th in the metric among the 32 NFL teams.
Since then Las Vegas released Jack Jones, who played 91.3% of their defensive snaps last year, and lost Nate Hobbs, who played 49.9%, to the Green Bay Packers.
While they added former Packers cornerback Eric Stokes in free agency, Darien Porter in the third round of the 2025 NFL draft and a quartet of undrafted rookies (Mello Dotson, John Humphrey, Hudson Clark and Greedy Vance), it could be argued that the position group is worse than it was last season.
The Raiders still have about $36 million in cap space (per Over the Cap), and they could use that to add an experience cornerback to the room before the season starts. In fact, SportsGrid’s Grant White recently listed Las Vegas as the best fit for free agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
Gilmore, 34, was a first-round pick (No. 10 overall) of the Buffalo Bills following a collegiate career at South Carolina where he earned All-SEC and All-American honors once.
After five years in Buffalo, Gilmore has had stops with the New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, winning a Super Bowl and a Defensive Player of the Year Award. He’s earned All-Pro honors twice and made five Pro Bowls.
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Gilmore appeared in 15 games for Minnesota last year and finished with 56 tackles (one for a loss), nine passes defensed and one interception. Pro Football Focus gave him a 63.9 overall grade, ranking him 94th out of 222 qualified NFL cornerbacks. He also earned a 77.6 run-defense grade (28th), 60.4 coverage grade (118th) and a 58.8 pass-rush grade (71st).
It’s evident the Gilmore is the closer to the end of his career than the beginning, but he can still be a starter in Las Vegas’ secondary in 2025 as well as a great resource for a room filled with younger players trying to find their roles in the league.
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