RAIDERS SUPERFAN AND HIP-HOP GIANT ICE CUBE ON HIS CONCERTS | "PRESIDENT OF RAIDER NATION"

 

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES STRIKE SURPRISE DEAL WITH AFC TEAM

Las Vegas Raiders CB Jakorian Bennett / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

An unexpected trade between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Las Vegas Raiders went down on Monday night.

In a move to add depth to the secondary, the Eagles have reportedly acquired the veteran cornerback, Jakorian Bennett. In exchange, the Eagles will part ways with the defensive tackle, Thomas Booker IV.

via @AdamSchefter: Trade: Raiders are sending CB Jakorian Bennett to the Eagles in exchange for DT Thomas Booker IV, per sources.

The Alabama-born cornerback entered college in 2018 at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. He played for two seasons in Community College before making the switch to a more notable program in Maryland.

Bennett spent three seasons at Maryland. During his first year, he appeared in just four games. By year two, he made 12 appearances, registering 23 tackles and three interceptions.

In his final season with the Terps in 2022, Bennett collected 26 tackles and two interceptions in 12 games.

In 2023, Bennett entered the NFL Draft. He was a fourth-round pick for the Las Vegas Raiders. At the time, he was projected to be an "average backup or special teamer," by NFL.com.

"High-cut cornerback who is more of a catch-challenger than an instinctive ballhawk. The high passes defensed total is an example of how aggressive Bennett is at the catch point, and he's clearly effective at tilting the 50/50 ball in his favor. However, his coverage tends to lack the needed anticipation and discipline to stay connected to NFL route runners. He has good size, but his coverage strength is a mix and match of man and zone with both featuring inconsistencies that will likely follow him into an NFL camp." via Lance Zierlein, NFL Analyst.

During his rookie season in the NFL, Bennett picked up 14 games of action, four of which he started. As a rookie, he produced 32 tackles and three pass deflections.

Last year, Bennett started in a career-high seven games, while seeing the field for 10 total matchups. He collected another 26 tackles while deflecting eight passes throughout the year.

Booker parts ways with the Eagles after spending some time with the team as a depth piece. In 2022, Booker entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick for the Houston Texans out of Stanford. After suiting up for the Eagles during their Super Bowl-winning season, the 25-year-old defensive lineman will now take his talents to Las Vegas to make up for a key loss on the Raiders' defensive front.

- Justin Grasso

CHIEF CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT WITH 'UGLY WIN' OVER RAIDERS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Chiefs secured a playoff spot for the 10th straight season with their 19-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday, but to some of the players, this clinching didn't necessarily feel like the others.

The Chiefs had to go to the wire to outlast the 2-10 Raiders, with the game being decided when Kansas City recovered a Las Vegas fumble with 11 seconds remaining. The Chiefs then ran out the clock with one snap to secure another victory.

They are 11-1, but five of their wins weren't settled until the final snap.

"It's not perfect, and we've had a lot of games this year where we didn't play the way we wanted to play,'' Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie said. "The thing about a championship team is games like this where things aren't perfect. You're thankful that you won, but you know that you've set the standard. And when we have games like this and don't feel like we've played to the standard that we've set, it's always a little disappointing, a little frustrating.''

The Chiefs can clinch a ninth straight AFC West title by beating the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 8 at Arrowhead Stadium. They padded their lead over the 9-2 Buffalo Bills -- the lone team to beat them -- for the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

They had many anxious moments in getting there. The Chiefs held what looked to be a comfortable 16-3 lead late in the third quarter.

The Raiders put together back-to-back touchdown drives to take the lead. The Chiefs grabbed it back with a field goal, only to see the Raiders reach the edge of field goal range at the Kansas City 32-yard-line when they fumbled in what turned out to be their eighth straight loss.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) throws to running back Isiah Pacheco (10).
Denny Medley, Imagn Images

"When you clinch a playoff spot, that's your first goal, to get into the playoffs and give yourself a chance to go for that Super Bowl,'' quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. "But we know we have a long ways to go. We got to continue to work to get better, to continue to be a better football team.

"It keeps you hungry. You're not satisfied with where we're at even though we're winning football games and so we know we have to get better. I think everybody in the locker room knows we have to get better, but we want to go out there and do that and prove that.''

Last week, the Chiefs survived in a similar manner against another sub-.500 opponent. They led the Carolina Panthers by 14 points late in the first half but needed a walk-off field goal to deliver one of those last-play victories.

Defensive tackle Chris Jones had two sacks, his first since Week 4. He said the Chiefs would remember the many things they did wrong against the Raiders -- allowing two long touchdown passes, his two offside penalties, yielding 434 yards -- as much as what they accomplished.

He also indicated that yet another narrow finish would be good for Kansas City.

"When you look at the playoffs, most games are close, down-to-the-wire type of games, so there's a lot we can build from this as a team overall,'' Jones said. "We're just going to keep on winning, keep on winning. You can learn a lot from winning.

"It is better to win than have a pretty loss. We'll take an ugly win, build from it and continue to get better.''

- Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff WriterCHI

FOUR DAYS AFTER LOSING 3-0, RAIDERS SET FRANCHISE SCORING RECORD, BEAT THE CHARGERS 63-21

Michael Mayer. AP Photo 

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Four days after losing 3-0, the Las Vegas Raiders scored 42 points by halftime, didn't let the Los Angeles Chargers cross midfield until the third quarter and rolled to a record-setting 63-21 victory on Thursday night.

The Raiders set a franchise scoring record, topping the team's 59-14 victory at Denver on Oct. 24, 2010. It was the most points allowed by the Chargers, who previously gave up 57 to the St. Louis Rams on Oct. 1, 2000.

The Raiders led 42-0 at halftime, just three points shy of the NFL record for halftime margin that was set in 2009 when New England led Tennessee 45-0. The 42-point margin has been matched two other times — by Green Bay over Chicago in 2014 and the Packers over Tampa Bay in 1983. Las Vegas also tied the franchise record for points in a half, set in 1969 against Buffalo.

The halftime deficit was the biggest in Chargers history. They trailed the Patriots 31-0 in 1997.