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Las Vegas Raiders safety Isaiah Pola-Mao isn't holding back in his self-assessment heading into 2025

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Justin Churchill | Last updated Jun 20, 2025 3:50 PM ET

The 2025 season for the Las Vegas Raiders is certainly going to feature a ton of changes compared to last season. Hopefully, one of those changes is that they win more than four games, but that shouldn't be too hard.

Of course, this is a new regime, with former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek as the new GM. They brought in a new quarterback in Geno Smith and have signed and drafted some other new pieces. The roster-building looks much different this year than it did this time last year.

And that's why the secondary, of all the position groups, may look the most different. No Marcus Epps, no Tre'Von Moehrig, as he signed a monster deal with the Carolina Panthers, and no Jack Jones or Nate Hobbs. They are completely young and new. Jeremy Chinn is set to lead things in the safety room, with Isaiah Pola-Mao being the new starter on the other side.

And that's a wildcard in itself. Pola-Mao was good last year when he was forced into more playing time due to injuries. But now he is the full-time starter, and he won that job fair and square. Even still, he knows there is a lot he can improve on.

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“I definitely want to pick up on my man coverage, just because a lot of times my eyes were in the wrong places last year, so that kind of got me in trouble. I think that's where it starts," Pola-Mao told reporters at mandatory minicamp when asked what he needs to work on.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Pola-Mao was only targeted three times while in man coverage last year, playing 20 total snaps in man-to-man. He gave up two catches on those three targets for 50 receiving yards. And, really, that's not bad. Could he be better, of course? There isn't a perfect player out there.

He may get asked to play more man coverage this year if the Raiders are in those looks on defense, depending on the matchups. Jeremy Chinn is very versatile and can guard bigger receivers and tight ends fairly well. But, Pola-Mao is a bit smaller and faster, so they may want him matching up with receivers more often.

It all depends on what Patrick Graham and Pete Carroll are going to ask him to do in this defense as the full-time starter. He shouldn't play in man that much, but if he does, I'm not sure the Raiders are very worried about his ability to do a solid job. At least he's self-aware of what he could work on, especially for as young as he is.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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