What Brought the Raiders to Darien Porter

Former Iowa State cornerback Darien Porter was a rising star heading into the 2025 NFL Draft.

Not a perfect prospect by any means, but one with a very good outlook.

NFL.com's Lance Zierlein wrote: "Sixth-year senior with elite traits and special teams talent but only one year of starting experience at cornerback. Porter’s rep total is heavy on zone coverages but he has the athleticism, burst and speed to handle more man coverage. He has excellent zone awareness with the twitch and ball skills to expand his sphere of influence. He uses his length to shade downfield throws but needs to get stronger to improve his press, his contest and his tackling in run support. More schooling is needed as a pattern-matcher but his athletic profile and instant impact on special teams should create more confidence in projecting Porter’s continued ascension as a CB2/CB3."

For the Las Vegas Raiders' Brandon Yeargan, director of college scouting, and general manager John Spytek, the lack of experience wasn't too big of a red flag.

They trust their coaches.

"I think that's really our scouts job is to project what they're going to be in the future where we think they can grow, not only year one, but year two," said Yeargan. "That's kind of how we define players. Like by year two, what do we think this guy is for us. And with some of those guys you mentioned, we think there's a lot of untapped potential and growth with those guys in this facility and with our coaching staff."