Jermod McCoy’s first real taste of NFL action came with a reminder that development rarely looks clean.
With Darien Porter sidelined in Week 2, the Las Vegas Raiders had to lean on their younger cornerbacks against the Los Angeles Chargers, and McCoy was one of the rookies thrown into the mix. Zeke Masses grabbed the spotlight with two interceptions of Justin Herbert, while McCoy’s debut was much quieter and, by the end of the day, pretty rough.
He had not played on defense or special teams in Week 1, then logged 18 defensive snaps and three more on special teams Sunday. That kind of exposure can be messy, but for McCoy, the reps mattered. He needed the game speed, the mistakes, and the lessons that come with both.
The hard part showed up quickly. Los Angeles kept running at McCoy’s side, in part because he was aligned opposite Maxx Crosby.
As the game moved along, McCoy struggled to disengage from blocks and got washed out on two straight red-zone runs, both of them 10-plus-yard gains. That sequence helped set up an easy Chargers touchdown from the 1-yard line.
He also had a blitz from the boundary later in the game that never really got off the ground. Rashawn Slater stonewalled him, and the rush fizzled almost immediately.
Coverage brought more frustration. On one snap, McCoy got stuck in no man’s land, failing to carry his receiver up the seam or sink into the flat.
That left Herbert with two open options and turned into a big gain. He was caught again later when he carried a receiver too far upfield in a non-man look, opening the flat for another sizeable play.
Then he stayed glued to a hook route even though Tommy Eichenberg was already there, and that created yet another chunk of yardage underneath.
Still, the day wasn’t a complete wipeout.
McCoy showed he can help on special teams, with strong reps as both a gunner and a vise. He only got one snap at each spot, but those are jobs he looks capable of handling if his cornerback workload changes with Masses’ emergence or Porter's return.
There were encouraging moments in the run game, too. McCoy did lose some battles early, but he also shed a few blocks and finished with two tackles, one solo. The bigger picture is that he can contribute as a run defender when he’s asked to.
And even in a game where the coverage wasn’t consistently there, he did flash. McCoy had several solid reps without surrendering a catch, and one standout play came when he tracked Tre’ Harris in motion and stayed stride for stride on a flag route. That was the kind of movement and control the Raiders are hoping to see more often.
He kept chasing, kept swarming, and never looked like a player ready to hide from the moment. For a rookie who had barely been on the field, Sunday was a rough baptism - but also the kind that can speed up growth.
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