And the trivia answer to who the first player ever signed by the Las Vegas Raiders is: Nevin Lawson. On Thursday, the Raiders announced they have signed Lawson to a one-year extension.
The six-year veteran cornerback returns to the Raiders for a second season after appearing in 11 games in 2019, starting five of them.
A fourth-round pick (133rd overall) out of Utah State in the 2014 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, Lawson has appeared in 74 contests with 59 starts over his career. He has defended 30 passes in his career but has yet to record a single interception, which is… kind of amazing, really.
Lawson was suspended for the first four games of last season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. He made his first appearance for the Raiders in Week 7 and got his first start in Week 11 after some shuffling in the secondary due to the team trading away Gareon Conley, safety Karl Joseph being lost for the season and other injuries including to nickel corner Lamarcus Joyner and Daryl Worley.
Four of Lawson’s five passes defended came in the team’s Week 16 win over the Chargers.
Lawson will once again start next season on the suspended list as he was slapped with a one-game suspension for using his helmet as a weapon on the second-to-last play of the season finale in Denver.
