2020 NFL Draft: Las Vegas Raiders rebuild secondary with Damon Arnette

Returning to Ohio state to up his draft stock, Damon Arnette moves on to Las Vegas to continue their rebuilding of the secondary with Johnathan Abram.

With other options still on the board, Gruden again takes the less common route and goes for Ohio State cornerback Damon Arnette. Only measuring at 6-foot and weighing 195 pounds, Arnette plays aggressively and can match up against more physically imposing opponents. His trail-man coverage style off of the line of scrimmage makes creating separation incredibly difficult when combined with his physical abilities.

In run support, Arnette plays downhill and resembles some of the smaller safeties now roaming around the box in the NFL. His tackling is low and fast, wrapping up ball carriers before they can put on a move. Arnette also has the range to get down to the line of scrimmage before a receiver can get out of their backfield on screens and outlets.

Even though Arnette has put up his most impressive tape from man coverage, he is still capable of playing an aggressive cover two. His break on the ball and hand usage against receivers makes his opponents begin to fear the ‘footsteps’ and prepare for contact.

Alongside no much top-end talent in Las Vegas, he still has a reliable safety pairing of Johnathan Abram and either Damarious Randall or Jeff Heath (or a combination of the three). Arnette will do his best performing as a one-on-one cornerback who shadows a receiver throughout the course of a game. With the weapons in the defensive front for Las Vegas, Arnette can encourage plenty of coverage sacks while shadowing a productive receiver throughout the course of a game.

With Henry Ruggs III, Gruden and the Raiders added to their collection with one of the final cogs in their offensive system. The Las Vegas secondary and defense as a whole will need more work throughout the next two days of this draft, but Arnette is a solid start to an aggressive man-coverage defense.

Another aggressive cornerback out of Ohio State who will look to succeed coming in as a number one corner.