The Las Vegas Raiders secured a potential steal in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft by taking safety Trevon Moehrig.
Although he was regarded as the best safety in his class, injuries caused him to slip to the Raiders with the No. 43 pick. He has since wasted no time in solidifying this notion with a strong outing in training camp.
Moehrig’s efforts even earned the praise of quarterback Derek Carr for his coverage abilities. It appears he is not the only one that is impressed with the rookie.
Head coach Jon Gruden is admittedly pleased with how Moehrig and some of the other young members of this secondary have emerged this offseason.
“Yeah, I’m really pleased with him,” Gruden said. “I thought he did an excellent job. Very pleased with a lot of our young players. Second-year receivers and Moehrig in the middle of our defense. [Damon] Arnette had a couple of good days, Trayvon Mullen is stepping his game up. So, we’ll go look at this tape and I know it wasn’t perfect, but pretty good. Pretty good against a very good offensive team. We’re excited about it.”
The Raiders have invested plenty of draft capital to revamp their secondary with first and second-round talent. Gruden’s praise indicates that they have each managed to make some strides in their development following a rough outing in the 2020 campaign.
Although Mullen looked every bit of a starting-caliber corner last season, Arnette struggled to fit the billing as a rookie. This has helped veteran cornerback Casey Hayward establish himself as a potential starter across from Mullen, leading up to the 2021 NFL season.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas has high hopes that Moehrig can emerge as the final piece of the puzzle over the top alongside Johnathan Abram. Even if the hard-hitting Abram has shown some promise, they will need him to be better in coverage if this defense will kick things up a notch.
Fortunately, Moehrig has embraced the challenge of stepping up as a leader for this young secondary. But, more importantly, he is backing up his talk with some strong play in the eyes of Gruden.
The Raiders are clearly relying on a host of unproven players to help get this team over the hump and into the playoffs. Only time will tell whether or not Gruden ultimately had good reason to be optimistic.
