Raiders depth chart: New cornerback coach has a plan

Ricky Manning Jr. is taking a grounded approach when it comes to his Las Vegas Raiders cornerbacks. The Silver & Black’s new position coach is a player-turned-coach who not only performed at a high level during his six-year NFL career, but spent the next 12 seasons coaching up prep, collegiate, and pro defenders before landing in the desert.

Manning Jr., who had a brief stint as a Raider back in 2009 in the offseason before being waived, comes over from the New York Jets where he was on Robert Saleh’s staff as a defensive assistant, a post he got in 2021. Before that, he was the Seattle Seahawks assistant defensive backs coach from 2016 to 2017.

Wanting his cornerbacks to be aggressive, opportunistic, and tough, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce did well to bring in Manning Jr. to coach up the cornerbacks in Las Vegas. The 43-year-old Manning Jr. storied careers at UCLA (13 career interceptions which is good for seventh all-time in Bruins history) and in the NFL (14 total regular season interceptions) highlight innate takeaway skills. And that’s something the entire Raiders cornerback room needs more of.

Manning Jr. spent six season in the NFL as a thief of a cornerback after being the 82nd player taken overall out of UCLA by the Carolina Panthers in the 2003 NFL Draft intercepting 14 total passes in the regular season and five more in the playoffs.

The individual highlight in postseason play arrived in the 2004 NFC Championship Game where Manning Jr. picked off Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb three times in the Panthers’ 14-3 road win.

Manning Jr. knows what it takes to play at a high level and can impart that to the young corners in Las Vegas which amplifies how sound players-turned-coaches can be in the league.

“One, it’s the energy. The energy is different,” Manning Jr. said when asked how beneficial it is for a team to have former players as coaches, after the Raiders OTAs last week. “You know, it’s just different when you got guys that got blood, sweat and tears in this thing, and you can feel that. I can’t help it, you know, and we have fun with it too. So immature, it’s hilarious. We were so immature, but it’s because we are former players who are just having fun and it just helped the business side of it, the football side of it. It be so much better, such a fun experience, and it’s just so natural.

“So, I think that’s the benefit of having a bunch of guys that played the game and also coached it at a high level and have been around some great coaches. These players get to benefit from that, and we get to benefit from it as coaches as well.”

Similar to how Raiders players across the board praised Pierce for knowing what they’re all going through over the course of a season, Manning Jr. expressed how vital it is to have a coaching staff familiar to that same grind. It keeps everyone grounded and relatable.

“Well, the great thing about having a head coach that is a former player, is he understands that. So, how our schedule is, it sets it up time to be with the rookies a little bit more than we are with the vets to slow it down for them and explain to them a little bit further,” Manning said about Pierce. “We have ample time, more time than I’ve ever had with rookies in my years of coaching. So, that way right there allows us to kind of get to them where I know it may be fast for them and it may be a lot of things. And that way they can get the game plan a little bit slower and different.”

Slowing things down early in the offseason and during the Raiders most recent mandatory minicamp excursion before things ramp up in July and August is vital for a cornerback room that is quite young.

Veterans Brandon Facyson (29 years old) and Cornell Armstrong (28) represent the oldest of the group with the most pro experience — seven seasons for the former, five for the latter. Jack Jones and Sam Webb are both 26 with three and two years in the NFL under their belt. Hate Hobbs is 24 with four seasons and Jakorian Bennett is 23 heading into year two. The rest are rookies: Decamerion Richardson (23, 4th round in the 2024 NFL Draft), M.J. Devonshire (23, seventh round), Ja’Quan Sheppard (24, undrafted), Rayshad Williams (24, undrafted), and Woo Governor (24, undrafted).

Of that group, Jones and Hobbs are slated to be starters at outside and nickel/slot, respectively. Manning Jr. spoke highly of Jones and Hobbs and is expecting a rebound season from Bennett who had an up-and-down rookie season after being thrown into the fire as a fourth-round pick from the 2023 NFL Draft. The coach even provided insight to his grounded approach for his position group.

“Work. Just keep grinding. I tell those guys, in your situations, there are going to be times it doesn’t look the way you want it to look,” Manning began. “What are you going to do about it? What’s going to be your response? How you respond is everything. You got to go out there and grind.

“Sometimes the thing in between your ears, your mind, messes you up, right? Don’t worry about that. Forget the outside noise, forget the inside noise, and just go to work. If you can get better just a little bit each and every day, then you’re going to be alright.”

And the grind is both on the field in practices and games, but most importantly, in the film room and study.

“You got to be smart, football intelligence. The offense leaves clues, success leaves clues,” Manning added. “You got to be able to find those clues and it doesn’t start in the field on Sunday. It’s in the classroom on Tuesday, on Monday, on those days. So, you got to be smart, and you got to be a student of the game, and that’ll allow you a chance to be successful.”

It’d be wise for the Raiders to heed Manning’s words. He didn’t become an absolute pick pocket of a cornerback by accident. And if he can impart even a fraction of the mentality he had as a player the Las Vegas corners, they’ll be that much better.