When the Las Vegas Raiders open training camp, most of the noise will center on the quarterback battle between Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza. That’s the headliner. But it’s not the only competition that could shape the roster.
The safety room deserves just as much attention, and maybe more. Jeremy Chinn and Treydan Stukes are expected to start, but the depth behind them is unsettled.
Isaiah Pola-Mao looks like the obvious third option, yet his 2025 play left plenty to be desired. Fifth-round pick Dalton Johnson has some upside, but he’s hardly locked into anything.
That opens the door for an unexpected name: Tanner Wall.
Wall arrived in Las Vegas as a UDFA this spring after going unselected in the 2026 NFL Draft. He comes in at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, and he made a real impact at BYU. In a safety group that looks thin from the jump, he has a chance to turn some heads.
There’s a reason he stands out in this mix. While Stukes is projected to handle free safety duties, the Raiders don’t have an obvious answer behind him.
Pola-Mao struggled in that deep role last year, and Johnson split his work at slot corner and strong safety as much as he did at free safety for the Arizona Wildcats. Tristin McCollum has only limited NFL experience on defense, and even that has come in the box and deep.
Beyond that, the options include other UDFA safeties like Devin Lafayette and Devyn Perkins, who also aren’t true free safeties.
Wall, by contrast, has real experience in exactly that role. At BYU, he played 87% of his defensive snaps at free safety in 2025 and 89% of them there in 2024. That kind of profile gives him a legitimate path to sticking, whether that’s on the 53-man roster or at least the practice squad.
He’s also more than just a body at the position. Wall was a converted wide receiver who moved to defensive back in college, and the transition clearly took. He earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors in 2025 alongside Johnson and ahead of Stukes and pre-draft favorite Bud Clark.
Over two full seasons at safety, Wall put together 124 combined tackles, seven interceptions with 119 return yards, one pick-six, a pass defended and a forced fumble. Pro Football Focus credited him with an 80.8 overall defensive grade and an 86.8 mark in coverage as a senior.
That ball production matters for a defense that wants to create turnovers. Wall is still a work in progress, but the Raiders are looking for players who can make plays, and he brings the body, the pedigree and special teams value to put himself in the conversation.
He’s also 26, which makes him an older rookie, but that can work in his favor. The question is whether his lack of versatility hurts him. If he strings together strong practices and preseason snaps, though, he could force the Raiders to make a tougher decision than anyone expected.
In Other News...
Tom Brady Just Raised The Stakes For Raiders Rookie Fernando Mendoza
Fernando Mendoza arrived in Las Vegas with the kind of label that follows a quarterback everywhere: first overall pick, franchise hope, immediate focal point. For the Raiders, that comes with more than the usual rookie learning curve, because the expectations around him are not being set only by the draft board or the depth chart. Tom Brady, now a Raiders minority owner, has already put himself in the middle of the conversation by saying he intends to help guide Mendoza as he grows into the job.
Brady also framed the challenge in familiar terms, drawing a line to Peyton Manning and the pressure that comes with being taken at the top of the draft. It is a reminder that the Raiders are not just trying to develop a quarterback, they are trying to develop one under a spotlight that rarely turns off. Mendoza has spent his career dealing with pressure wherever he has been, and now the real question is how he handles the next layer of it with Brady watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Rebuild Could Be Setting Up One Franchise-Changing WR Swing
The Raiders are still deep enough into their rebuild that a splashy veteran swing does not feel necessary right now, which is why the latest trade chatter is more about long-term flexibility than a move on the horizon. CBS Sports Garrett Podell floated a scenario in which Las Vegas could be positioned to chase a true difference-making receiver later in the decade, once the roster picture is clearer and the franchise has a better sense of where it stands competitively.
What gives the idea some legs is the possibility that Minnesotas situation could go the wrong way at quarterback and leave its top pass catcher looking around for a better football fit. If the Vikings remain stuck and their star wideout starts to wonder about his future, the Raiders would be one of the teams with both the need and the ambition to at least listen, even if the price and the timing would make any such pursuit complicated. [Read more 🡒]