In Raiders’ Joyner, Gruden sees an old favorite
Jon Gruden, who last year compared receiver Amari Cooper to a “young Tim Brown” and Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes to “a young (Brett) Favre,” is not stingy when it comes to praise.
Still, the comparison the Raiders’ head coach drew recently for new defensive back Lamarcus Joyner was — for him — significant.
At the owners’ meetings in March, Gruden told reporters Joyner reminds him of former Tampa Bay defensive back Ronde Barber, who “might have been perhaps my favorite player I ever coached.”
Barber “wasn’t the biggest guy. He wasn’t the fastest guy,” Gruden said at the owners’ meetings. “But when he put the helmet on, something happened to that guy.
“Joyner, to me, is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to Ronde as a slot corner. And I think he’s the best. I think he’s got a real chance to be dynamic in there.”
Joyner, who signed a fouryear, $42 million contract with the Raiders in March, took Gruden’s words in stride when asked about them after Tuesday’s organized team activity in Alameda.
“I’ve met Ronde personally ... had a lot of great conversations with him,” Joyner said. “It’s a big honor to be compared to that guy — but at the end of the day, I have to live up to it.
“I mean, it’s a great compliment. It’s just giving me an edge, a sense of love, and giving me an opportunity to work toward that, because he’s a great player.”
In a 2016 story on the evolution of the slot cornerback, Sports Illustrated named Barber as its first “modern” iteration. Tampa Bay, under defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, would have Barber move from outside corner in its base defense to slot corner in its nickel package, and taught Barber to play the latter position like a linebacker.
That required Barber to know the defense and opposing offenses in detail. Barber told Sports Illustrated he approached the position as “a smaller version of (linebacker) Derrick Brooks.”
Playing nickel “is just like linebacking,” Barber said in the story. “It’s all about your keys. Follow your keys, and your keys take you to the play. Don’t try to see everything; just try to see aspects of (the play). The good ones do it well. The bad ones have bad eyes and end up all over the place.”
Joyner, 28, played safety in college, but the Rams made him their nickel corner for three years after drafting him in the second round in 2014 out of Florida State. In 2017, under new head coach Sean McVay, Joyner moved to free safety, where he recorded three interceptions in 12 games. He had a career-high 78 tackles in 15 starts last season as the Rams made the Super Bowl.
In this offseason, the Raiders appear to be using Joyner as their primary slot corner, with Karl Joseph and Erik Harris as the starting safeties. Joyner also has lined up at safety and said that he expects to play snaps at both this season.
Like Barber, who was listed at 5-foot-10 and 184 pounds, Joyner is undersized at 5-8 and 191 pounds when it comes to lining up over larger slot receivers or tight ends. Joyner also did not downplay the difficulties of the position when asked about it Tuesday.
“I believe, I wholeheartedly believe, that the slot is the hardest position on the field,” he said. “Especially to have to play the run game and the pass game. So (it’s) just having a guy with the ability and the mental aspect of the game to be able to handle those challenges.”
Joyner said the biggest task for him in toggling between safety and slot corner while learning a new defense is “terminology, so once I get that down in the scheme, I’ll be able to do what I’ve been doing all my life.”
Joyner was the highestpriced defensive addition this offseason to a team that signed receivers Antonio Brown and Tyrell Williams and tackle Trent Brown to large contracts on offense. Lining up as a corner, Joyner could draw more one-on-one assignments against fast receivers than he did in recent years as a safety. He said practicing against Brown should be good experience.
“You don’t get the opportunity often to go against a specimen like that, an elite player,” Joyner said. “To be able to match up with him in the slot, with this great division of slot players, that’s going to get me better. And it’s going to make him better as well.”