When Jakorian Bennett joined Las Vegas as a fourth-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, Josh McDaniels served as the Raiders’ head coach. For the former McGill-Toolen Catholic High School star’s second season, Antonio Pierce was at the helm. As the cornerback nears his third campaign, Bennett is working for Pete Carroll as the coach prepares for his first season with Las Vegas and 19th as an NFL head coach.

The coaching changes have meant starting over annually for Bennett and the rest of the Raiders.

“I feel like there’s no other way that you would want it,” Bennett said about the necessity of proving himself annually. “You don’t want nobody to just give you anything, you know? Like, I’m here to work, and I just got to show the coaches, like, who I am, who I know I can be, and just go out there and just continue to compete.”

Carroll’s first NFL job came in 1984 as the secondary coach for the Buffalo Bills, and the defensive backs remain of particular interest to the coach.

“He’s all about just getting the ball,” Bennett said, “and, like, that’s what I want to lowkey kind of implement in my game, because I had a lot of breakups or whatever, but if I could turn those breakups to picks, I could really, like, help change the game, and so he’s really all about just getting the ball back. He’s all about the ball. That’s what we preach each and every day, so him instilling that confidence in us, it means a lot, and it’s going to translate to the field.”

Bennett considers himself “a shutdown corner,” but he has not intercepted a pass in the NFL yet. He had eight pass breakups in 2024, a season cut short by a shoulder injury that required surgery.

“I haven’t had both my shoulders since college, you know?” Bennett said. “So, like, man, I go out there during games knowing that my shoulder’s going to pop out. Like, probably last season my shoulder probably popped out like five times because I had, like, a torn labrum, you know? Like a lot of people don’t know that, but I was just thugging it out, you know? They’ll put it back in, go back in or whatever.

“But it feels good to have it back right. Now it’s just kind of time to keep taking that next step.”

As a fourth-round rookie from Maryland, Bennett played in 14 games, with four starts, and had 360 defensive snaps. Last season, Bennett played in 10 games, with seven starts, and had 461 defensive snaps.

Quarterbacks throwing to receivers covered by Bennett in 2023 had a 102.5 passing-efficiency rating as they completed 26-of-38 passes for 316 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Last year, the passing-efficiency rating when targeting Bennett dropped to 67.7 as quarterbacks were 23-of-44 for 233 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

“I was feeling good going into last year,” Bennett said. “Just felt confident. Felt like, you know, when you get that experience, it’s like everything just kind of slows down. And I had a lot of guys that believed in me, so this year I’m going to try to do the same thing. You know, keep my head down, just keep working.”

Three cornerbacks played more defensive snaps for Las Vegas than Bennett during the 2024 season. The Raiders released Jack Jones on April 6 after he played 94 percent of the defensive snaps last season. Nate Hobbs left in free agency after playing 50 percent of the defensive snaps in 2024.

Decamerion Richardson is back after playing 559 defensive snaps, or half of Las Vegas’ total, last season. This offseason, the Raiders added Darien Porter and Eric Stokes to the competition at outside corner. Porter came aboard from Iowa State as a third-round pick in the NFL Draft in April, and Stokes joined from the Green Bay Packers as a free-agent signing.

On their summer break, the Raiders open training camp when the rookies report on July 17 and the veterans come in on July 22. Las Vegas starts its three-game preseason schedule on Aug. 7 against the Seattle Seahawks and kicks off its regular-season slate on Sept. 7 against the New England Patriots.

An All-State sprinter at McGill-Toolen, Bennett and the Yellow Jackets reached the AHSAA Class 7A football championship game in each of his final three seasons at the Mobile school.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.