Raiders Lose Decamerion Richardson to Saints

Richardson played in 27 games over the last two seasons with Las Vegas. He made seven starts as a rookie, but none last season. 

The cornerback never showed much upside. He still has yet to pick off his first NFL pass. He didn’t play enough snaps last season to qualify for Pro Football Focus rankings. But as a rookie he was the third-worst cornerback in the NFL. 

2024 Draft Class

The Raiders finished 8-9 in 2023, but following the 2024 draft have gone 7-27 in the last two seasons. Richardson is another example of how the Raiders’ poor drafting has led to years of struggle. 

The Raiders have kept most of the 2024 draft class around. Brock Bowers was the first-round pick that season and is clearly a star at tight end. Whether or not the Raiders should have used a top-15 pick on a tight end one year after drafting Michael Mayer in the second round is another question. But Bowers is good. 

After that, the Raiders are stuck with a handful of players that have yet to prove much in the NFL. Jackson Powers-Johnson was the second-round pick for Las Vegas. He is likely to start at right guard this season, but he has yet to prove he can be a key piece of the future. 

DJ Glaze was taken in round three and will be the starting right guard in Week 1. But Glaze hasn’t been good in his NFL career. He was Pro Football Focus’ 64th-best tackle last season. 

Linebacker Tommy Eichenberg and running back Dylan Laube were taken in the fifth and sixth rounds. Both are still on the roster, but are simply depth pieces that serve more value on special teams. 

Richardson was a fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft. He never pushed for a starting job in training camp this season and was dumped for a player the 49ers cut. 

As the 2024 draft class enters its third NFL season, only one player has established himself as a legitimate starter. The rest of the class is either depth or starting by default because the Raiders’ roster is simply not good enough.