The Las Vegas Raiders got hit with some rough news during their recent mock game at Allegiant Stadium. Safety Lonnie Johnson Jr. went down during a play and had to be carted off the field.
Head coach Pete Carroll called the injury “significant,” and now there’s more clarity on what’s wrong. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Johnson suffered a broken fibula and has to undergo testing for further damage.
This will almost certainly end his 2025 season. Johnson was competing for one of the starting safety jobs, but he will have to go back to the drawing board next year. He was only on a one-year deal with the Raiders, so he’ll be a free agent next offseason.
That said, it sounds like he’s hoping to stay in Las Vegas. Following the news of his injury, Johnson made it clear he wants to come back.
“Still gonna retire a raider,” Johnson wrote on X.
Johnson is only 29, so it’s unlikely that it means he’s retiring now. A broken fibula is a serious injury, but he should be able to recover from it. Johnson won’t be a very expensive free agent next offseason, so the Raiders could pretty easily bring him back and give him a chance at a healthy season.
Jakorian Bennett Fighting for Reps
One of the big surprises for the Raiders last season was Jakorian Bennett. He was benched due to poor play in his rookie year, but ended up being the team’s best cornerback last season before he got hurt.
Surprisingly, Bennett has mostly been playing with the second and third teams in practice. Though he’s not seeing starter reps, Bennett isn’t freaking out.
“It’s nothing that I haven’t been through before, you know?” Bennett said, via The Athletic. “Like in high school, I only started one year, my senior year. Going JUCO and going to Maryland. I always feel like the underdog, and not saying I’m an underdog right now, but just more so, I always had to get out the mud, you know. And, man, that’s nothing I shy away from. That’s who I am. I like to persevere. I like to be resilient, and that’s when I see the best JB, when I’m just focused on me, focused on just being present and just controlling what I can control at the end of the day.”
Darien Porter Gaining Confidence
While Bennett might be on the outside looking in for a starting spot, rookie Darien Porter might be swooping in. He has been taking a lot of reps with the starters in camp.
Porter hasn’t been playing cornerback very long, but he’s big and fast. The Raiders clearly think highly of him, and he could have a big role as a rookie.
“Just the mental part of it,” Porter told reporters recently. “It can be kind of daunting coming into the NFL as a rookie, especially at the cornerback position, but with the guys that I have in the room, with the coaches that I have, and with the practices and continued practices, I think confidence is just getting better by the day.”
