Raiders Roster Evaluations: Nevin Lawson

The 2021 NFL Draft is now behind us, and that means teams across the NFL are in the process of piecing together their entire rosters.

The Las Vegas Raiders are likely no different before what could be a pivotal fourth season of the second Jon Gruden era.

That's why we'll be going over roster evaluations for the Raiders players and position groups to see how everyone's stock measures up heading into the summer.

We've gone over the Raiders veteran options at cornerback recently, but we haven't yet mentioned the most tenured one on the roster. 

That would be Nevin Lawson, previously a fourth-round pick by the Detroit Lions back in 2014. 

Entering his eighth season in the NFL, Lawson has been able to stick as a starter despite lacking in one key statistical area. 

Those would-be interceptions, which despite having starter 68 games in his career so far, he has not been able to snag one. 

He does have 34 career pass breakups and multiple forced fumbles, so it's not as if he's never around the ball. 

Luck just hasn't found him yet in getting that first pick, and his advanced stats won't help a ton either. 

Going by Pro Football Focus, Lawson has been ranked as an above-average corner just once in his career, back in 2016. 

Other than that, he's usually been in the 80-90 placement range for cornerbacks, ranking well below average. 

In two of the last three seasons, he has allowed less than 60% of passes to be completed to targets he's covering. 

Even with that, the passer rating opposing quarterbacks have when targeting him has been at least 103.7 in that same time span. 

Many would still say that the best ability is availability, though, and during his career, Lawson hasn't missed many games. 

That, combined with Lawson's accumulated experience, gives the Raiders a steady veteran presence to rely on whenever he's needed.