Darien Porter bounces back against New York Giants

Rookie cornerback Darien Porter was coming off a couple of tough outings heading into the Las Vegas Raiders’ Week 17 matchup with the New York Giants. Porter was targeted seven times against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Houston Texans, allowing five completions for 111 yards on top of drawing two flags, according to Pro Football Focus. However, the Iowa State product enjoyed the bounce-back performance he needed versus the Giants.

New York tested Porter just one time, and the third-round pick managed to come up with a pass breakup that prevented a touchdown. Additionally, he was credited with three tackles, including a ‘defensive stop’, and finished the contest as the Raiders’ highest graded defender (75.7), per PFF. That mark also ranks tied for 10th among corners for the week (pre-Monday Night Football and minimum 18 defensive snaps).

With that, let’s dive into the rookie’s tape and break down his outing against the G-Men.

Porter definitely still has some work to do against the run, and his tackling form on this rep needs to improve by wrapping up and running through the ball carrier rather than just launching his body at the running back. But this is a great job of getting involved in the run fit, crashing downhill and taking away the outside rushing lane.

With the front seven doing its job, shoutout Jonah Laulu for beating the right guard picking the puller, this is exactly the type of run support that the defense is hoping for from its boundary corner. Again, the tackling technique can be better, but Porter at least gets a piece of the running back to help limit this run to a two-yard gain, setting up a third-and-medium situation.

Here, we’ll see a textbook rep from a Cover 2 corner.

First, Las Vegas checks into the coverage pre-snap, and the rookie communicates with his teammates to get on the same page. That might seem pretty simple, but it does show growth from him because there have been a handful of instances this season where the defense changes the call, and he’s been out of place.

Post-snap, Porter does a good job of getting his hands on the wide receiver at the line of scrimmage to disrupt the timing of the vertical route. That forces Giants’ quarterback Jaxson Dart to come off his first read and check the ball down to the running back. Meanwhile, Porter comes off the wide receiver and rallies to the checkdown, combining with Jamal Adams to get the third-down stop.

That’s teach tape material as the flat defender in Cover 2.

This is another example of the rookie showing growth from earlier in the season. In the second game against the Denver Broncos, he had a few reps where he allowed some separation against wide receiver Courtland Sutton when Sutton used physicality at the top of the route.

Here, Porter is in man coverage against a 6-foot-6, 255-pound tight end, who tries to outmuscle the corner on the post route. However, Porter stands his ground and stays in the tight end’s hip pocket, allowing zero separation. As a result, Dart comes off his first read and tries to hit the running back on the wheel route, only for the pass to fall incomplete.

This is the best rep Porter has had all season.

First, he does a good job of staying patient and keeping his hips square to the line of scrimmage until the receiver releases inside. Then, he gets in an awkward position and turned around a bit when the wideout starts to work up the field and fakes the corner route. However, the corner’s hip mobility and flexibility allow him to recover and stay in phase, showcasing the athleticism that made him an intriguing draft prospect.

Finally, Porter plasters to his man on the scramble drill and perfectly plays the receiver’s hands at the catch point to get the PBU and prevent a touchdown.

That’s an elite rep that combines athleticism and ball skills, which should get Raider Nation excited about his potential moving forward.

This last clip all goes for naught since Dart ends up running it in anway, but we’re focusing on the rookie corner and this is a good play from him.

The Giants run a play-action pass out of 13 personnel and have the inside tight end release inside like he’s about to block a linebacker to help sell the run fake before breaking on the out route. However, Porter isn’t fooled, using his hands and flipping his hips to guard the tight end from a trail position. Especially with the safety help, that isn’t open and Dart is forced to pull the ball down, the Raiders just don’t have a defender containing the edge.

Overall, Porter still has plenty to work on heading into next season. But this was a good performance at the end of the year and stacking another one on top of it next week will give him pleanty of momentum heading into 2026. It’s still early, but Las Vegas has a good young corner who can develop into a quality starter down the line.