As a fifth-round pick out of Illinois, Nate Hobbs was probably not top of mind for many Raiders fans heading into the 2021 season. But with how Hobbs has played through two preseason games, he’s quickly becoming more of a household name in Las Vegas.

In his second preseason game, Hobbs showed up big time with an interception that helped turned things around for the Raiders. His performance was good enough to earn a game ball from coach Jon Gruden.

Gruden elaborated on his decision to reward Hobbs following the team’s 17-16 win against the LA Rams.

“I’m really proud of him. I’m really excited to see what he does in his future,” Gruden said postgame. “We tried to summarize him a couple days ago: He has the ‘it factor.’

“He rarely makes the same mistake twice. He loves football, eats it up, and he’s one of the energizers of our defense. He’s walked in here and given us a lot of skills that we can utilize certainly.”

The performance against the Rams comes a week after Hobbs impressed with his performance against the Seahawks that included a sack. Against LA, Hobbs finished with four tackles and two passes defended to go along with the turnover he forced.

Hobbs appears to be well on his way to being on Las Vegas’ roster heading into the regular season. He also looks like a guy who’s making his way up the depth chart and could be a key part of the Raiders’ secondary.