Jakorian Bennett gets big test in Week 9 against Bengals

Las Vegas cornerback slated to match up with Cincinnati wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase; performance will showcase just how much he’s improved

Giving himself the moniker Sub-Zero based on a staple character of the Mortal Kombat video game series, Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Jakorian Bennett is living up to it thus far in the Silver & Black’s 2024 campaign.

He’s left opposing wide receivers ice cold in his second season, a marked improvement from the Maryland product’s rookie year in 2023. And this Sunday, Bennett gets a solid test in a Week 9 matchup.

The fleet-footed fourth round pick (104th overall) from the 2023 NFL Draft burst onto the scene in the desert and earned a starting spot out of training camp. Yet, despite starting the first three games — earning 100 percent of the snaps in Week 1 and 3, with a 91-percent output in between — Bennett was benched and played sparingly on defense the rest of the way before garnering zero snaps in the final three games of the season.

In total, Bennett played 14 games with four starts his rookie season compiling 32 total tackles and three passes defensed (pass deflections). According to Pro Football Reference, the 5-foot-11 and 195-pound cornerback allowed 26 completions on 38 targets for a 68.4 precent completion rate. Receivers churned out 316 yards (184 air yards, 132 yards after the catch (YAC)) and a touchdown when covered by Bennett. And opposing quarterbacks sported a 102.5 rating throwing at Bennett.

Confidence lost is detrimental to a cornerback and Bennett worked hard to regain that heading into Year 2 with the Raiders.

And it’s shows. The early-season performance has flourished into consistent lockdown-type coverage for Bennett.

Eight games into Bennett’s second year, Pro Football Reference charts the cornerback with 15 completions on 35 targets — a 42.9 percent completion rate — for 209 yards (152 air yards, 57 YAC) with zero touchdowns allowed. Quarterback’s throwing Bennett’s way sport a 62.7 rating. Bennett leads the team in pass deflections with seven — that ties him for 10th in the league amongst defenders — and is a steady presence on defense with 405 snaps thus far (79 percent of the unit’s total snap count).

In comparison with the other Raiders starting cornerbacks — perimeter defender Jack Jones and slot dynamo Nate Hobbs — the trio has been targeted almost identical amounts with Hobbs having one more than the outside cornerbacks with 36.

Pro Football Reference charts Jones with 23 completions allowed on 35 targets (65.7 percent completion rate) for 250 yards (168 air yards, 82 YAC) with three touchdowns allowed. Quarterbacks going Jones’ way have a 115.2 rating. Hobbs, on the other hand, is tracked with 21 completions allowed on 36 targets (58.3 percent rate) for 240 yards (148 air, 17 YAC) with two touchdowns allowed. Quarterbacks throwing at Hobbs sport a 85.4 rating.

As you can see, of the trio, Bennett is the stingiest. But that doesn’t minimize the difficulty Hobbs’ faces defending the slot where he’s equal parts cover man and run defender.

That all said, the group faces a tremendous challenge when they travel to face the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday: Ja’Marr Chase.

While Raiders cornerbacks don’t tend to travel with their assignments, there’s a high likelihood the trio of Bennett, Jones, and Hobbs get their shot at defending the league leader in receiving yards and touchdowns.

A literal thrill of the Chase, the Bengals wideout has 674 yards under his best to top the NFL (the Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson is second with 646 yards) and the seven touchdowns he has receiving is better than San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle’s and the Tampa Bay Bucanners’ Mike Evans’ total of six.

On the season, Chase has 48 receptions on 59 targets (an impressive 81.4 percent catch rate) with only two drops, according to Pro Football Reference. And he brings excellent speed (4.38 40-yard dash time at the LSU pro day) along with good size (6-feet, 201 pounds).

“So, we got to do a good job first and foremost, when they catch the ball, because they’re going to catch balls, we got to tackle and get them on the ground,” Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said when asked what his cornerbacks need to do against Chase and other Bengals receivers. “And then when we have opportunities, because there is opportunities to make plays on the ball, we have to make those plays. But I think we don’t need to chase plays. I think both Jack and JB (Jakorian Bennett) and Nate have done a good job of when the opportunity is there, punch it out or get the guy on the ground, and if we continue to do that, we’ll be fine.”

While Cincinnati (3-5 overall) is struggling with win-loss ratio like Las Vegas (2-6), there are individual standouts for the Bengals (as with the Raiders). Chase is a focal point of the Bengals’ 11th-ranked scoring offense and the productive wide receiver has an accurate quarterback in Joe Burrow throwing his way. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft is completing 70.3 percent of his passes in his fifth year in the league (185 completions on 263 attempts) for 1,993 yards with 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

Pierce spoke highly of Burrow during his mid-week press conference.

“He doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t flinch. I mean, he sees it. If he sees single high, that ball is going to the outside, right? He sees the two high safety; he makes the correct throw and throws a checkdown and gets the ball in the middle of the field. But more importantly, I think what shocked me is his athleticism. I saw that the other day from the Giants game, a 50-yard touchdown outrunning a linebacker, Isaiah Simmons, who runs a 4.3. Competitive, tough, smart, you can see even battling all the injuries, man. Everything’s rallied around this player, and he’s a special player. So, we’ve got to disrupt him, get him uncomfortable, and obviously not allow him to have easy targets.”

It’ll be imperative for Las Vegas to have a concentrated effort both rushing and disrupting Burrow and the backend coverage from the secondary and linebackers. Burrow, thus far, has absorbed the ninth most sacks amongst quarterbacks with 19. Dialed-in pass rush from defensive ends Maxx Crosby (team-leading 6.5 sacks and 11 quarterback hits), Charles Snowden (1.5 sacks, six QB hits), Tyree Wilson (one sack, four QB hits), and K’Lavon Chaisson (one sack, two QB hits) are going to be imperative.

If the Raiders aren’t able to disrupt the ebb and flow of the Bengals’ aerial attack, all eyes turn to if Bennett continues his stingy ways or he, along with the other corners, get bested by Chase, Burrow, and the Cincinnati offense.