Jul 24, 2025; Henderson, NV, USA; Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll during training camp at the Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

One Raiders DB Climbing the Depth Chart

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Michael Canelo | Last updated Aug 14, 2025 4:12 PM ET

The Las Vegas Raiders are going with a lot of young, talented players this season in their secondary. The secondary has been talked about as the Raiders' weakest point of the defense. But that is far from the truth. The Raiders coaching staff believes in these young, talented players and will put their trust in them to do a lot of good things this season. They have been getting to work all training camp long, and they are looking better than most expected.

The Raiders still have some battles going on in the secondary, but it is all good. That is what head coach Pete Carroll was looking for. That has been his motto all offseason long, and this Raider team is bringing it. It is good to see that even the young players are not shying away from the competition. They are battling with the veterans, and they are also getting help from the veterans. That is how this team is building chemistry through competition.

One player that is making a lot of noise this week on defense is cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly. Kelly had a good showing in the first preseason game last week. He has come out strong this week in training camp as well. He even got some very important reps on defense at practice this week. Kelly can have a bigger role for the defense this week in the second preseason game.

Our Hondo Carpenter talked about Kyu Blu Kelly in a recent episode of the "Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast."

Kyu Blu Kelly

"I am going to tell you, Kyu Blu Kelly, the last two days have made a push in this camp," said Carpenter. "If I had to guess after today, because I thought they were super close going into Monday. I think Kelly is close to moving to two on the depth chart."

"Kelly is playing super well. I thought yesterday was his best practice that he ever had. Until today, I think there were several plays that he made where the ball did not even get thrown in his direction, just because he had such great coverage."

"I thought he was tremendous. I am going to give the youngster some credit because one thing he did that I have not seen him do is he flipped his hips."