The Las Vegas Raiders reached an agreement with cornerback Eli Apple, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Apple has shown great potential but also inconsistency by starting 51 games in its four-year career with the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints. He has three interceptions and 33 passes defended.
With Apple, the Raiders get the cornerback with a wide range of specialized coverage in areas they were looking for. Apple would be the starter on the opposite side to Trayvon Mullen, who became a starter in Week 8 last season as a rookie.
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The Raiders finished 25th in defense against the pass in the 2019 season and 29th with only nine interceptions, of which only three were from their cornerbacks, including one from Gareon Conley, who was traded to the Houston Texans on 20 October.
Eli Apple has sporadically shown his quality as a cornerback in four years in the NFL. Getty Images / Chris Gray
Apple, who turned 25 in August, seemed to adapt positively to the Saints on and off the field after being traded in the mid-2018 season, but his NFL career started turbulently with the Giants, who recruited him with the 10th. overall pick in the 2016 draft.
Apple was suspended at the end of the 2017 season for arguing with a coach, and his partner Landon Collins called it a “cancer.” Days later, Apple admitted feeling “embarrassed” by his conduct and settled his differences with Collins and the Giants organization.
The cornerback played well at the start of the 2018 season, before being traded to the Saints for the third and seventh round college picks as part of a Giants rebuild.
Apple immediately became a starter with the Saints and held the post until he suffered an ankle injury in Week 16, but he helped the Saints have a solid defense as the team went 13-3 in the game. the 2918 and 2019 campaigns.
Apple was a positive locker room presence at New Orlrans, where he reunited with former Ohio State teammates, cornerback Marshon Lattimore, safety Vonn Bell and catcher Michael Thomas, but was inconsistent on the field, particularly in a loss by 48-46 against the San Francisco 49ers last December.
He was the Saints player with the most penalties against him with 11 in 2019 and 10 in 2018 (after joining the team in Week 8) and in that span, of which, 11 were pass interference.
Paul Gutierrez and Mike Triplett of ESPN contributed to this report.
