Raiders intriguing rookie CB to take field for first time since 2024

It's been a long road for Jermod McCoy. At the end of his sophomore season in 2024, he was highly regarded as one of the top cornerbacks in the country. But three weeks after he had played his last game of his 2024 campaign, he suffered a serious knee injury in an offseason workout and hasn't played a game since. That streak is expected to end Thursday night in Las Vegas when the Raiders open the preseason against the Cardinals. "Jermod [McCoy] has been practicing almost every day we've been out there (in training camp), so we expect him to play," said head coach Klint Kubiak. "We expect him to compete and look forward to watching him play." McCoy was seen as an upper first round draft prospect based on talent alone. But concerns over the long term effects of his knee injury caused him to drop out of the first two days altogether. That's when the Raiders pulled the trigger, moving up one spot at the top of the fourth round to ensure they had the chance to be the team where McCoy blossomed. Throughout the offseason, the Raiders took it slow with the talented cornerback. He saw just one practice in OTA's and missed all of mandatory minicamp in June. But come the start of camp, he was on the field with the rest of his new teammates. McCoy said recently that he felt out of football shape at first, but after two or three practices, he felt back to normal. The next step, of course, is playing in a game. And that's a big step for him. "There's definitely going to be some emotions," said McCoy, adding that he plans to "just look around, take it all in, and just remember at any point, this game could be taken from you. So just always cherishing these moments." Kubiak understands his rookie is going to have a lot of emotions about his return to the field, but hopes he can keep focused by reminding him that other than the milestone, this shouldn't be any different than what he has seen in camp practices. "We're not going to ask him to do anything in the game he hasn't done in practice," Kubiak said. "I'm really excited for him. He's worked his tail off to get to this moment, and I just want him to go be himself, go be the best version of himself on Thursday night." McCoy likely won't be working with the first team. That hasn't been the case for much of camp, but you can expect he will see the field pretty early on, along with fellow rookie cornerback Hezekiah Masses. The two have been in the thick of the competition to start at left outside cornerback in this year's camp. This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders intriguing rookie CB to take field for first time since 2024