Raiders officially in serious trouble at cornerback

After what we all witnessed on Sunday, the problems the Raiders have at cornerback may already be pretty obvious. And if you can believe it, they just got worse. Now starting cornerback Shawntae Spencer has a sprained foot and will be out for an indefinite period of time.

The Raiders have played two games this season and lost both starting cornerbacks in each game. They lost Ron Bartell in the opener to a broken shoulder blade. He was put on the six week injured reserve list and will not return until November 11^th.

The replacement for Bartell was Pat Lee and he played so poorly against the Dolphins that he was benched in favor of Joselio Hanson. The change to Hanson didn't help matters. And the Raiders cornerbacks went from questionable with Bartell and Spencer to decidedly terrible with Lee and Hanson. And there is no remedy in sight.

When Bartell went down, the team called up Coye Francies to give the team five corners. Francies had been cut twice in a matter of a couple weeks-first by the Seahawks, and then by the Raiders. Then the Raiders re-signed him to the practice squad and activated him last Sunday.

They currently have four corners who are available: Lee, Hanson, Francies, and Philip Adams. The last two are on the roster mainly as return specialists but without any other options, one of them will likely be pressed into nickel corner duties. That is yet another scary proposition.

The only name on the market right now that I can see is Chris Carr, who is visiting the Chargers this week. Another option would be activating Chimdi Chekwa from the practice squad which is probably what they will do.

The Raiders will play host to Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers next week. To put this as lightly as I can; the outlook does not favor the Raiders.