I was able to attend the Raiders seventh training camp practice in Napa, California on Friday afternoon. When comparing not only the team, but their training camp performance last year, you notice a lot of improvement.
The Raiders weren’t in pads, so there wasn’t a lot of strong defensive play with no contact. Some players missed practice due to injury including top free agent acquisition Justin Tuck who was out with a slight groin strain, but it doesn’t sound like anything too serious. Veteran off day also contributed to Tuck’s absence.
Antonio Smith was also nowhere to be found, but is dealing with a groin injury.
Wide receiver Greg Little was on the field, but didn’t participate in practice due to a hamstring issue. He did however give his gloves to a young boy sitting in the bleachers, no doubt making his day. Juron Criner was also out nursing a hamstring.
The Raiders had four quarterbacks taking snaps, but Matt Schaub, Derek Carr, and Matt McGloin were under center the most with Trent Edwards looking on. Schaub looked sharp, throwing a tight spiral deep down the field and hitting his receivers perfectly. Carr also showed off his arm and accuracy much to the approval of Raider Nation.
Carr showed that he can be mobile in the pocket when needed. He didn’t see an open man so successfully ran for yardage rather than throwing it away. He did hold on to the ball for far too long on some snaps.
McGloin also had a strong showing making the best throw of the day, a deep pass to the end zone with Mike Davis bringing it in.
The receiving core showed some problems however, especially Denarius Moorewho dropped a few perfect passes right at the chest. James Jones made some nice catches downfield as did Rod Streater, who played a key role in the offense last year as the only true offensive target. Little has also been a standout in camp so far, and will be a player to watch in preseason.
Brice Butler and Andre Holmes also took a lot of reps on the side of the field that was closest to me. Both did well and lived up to the hype surrounding their names.
A position filled with a lot of competition is the punt and kickoff return men. The Raiders don’t have an experienced returner on their roster and they have experimented with Maurice Jones-Drew, Darren McFadden, Latavius Murray, George Atkinson III, Greg Jenkins, Moore, TJ Carrie, Greg Jenkins, Mike Davis, and Taiwan Jones. Quite the list, and the return men won’t be determined until after preseason.
From what I saw, Atkinson looked good. He entered camp as the lead frontrunner for the job, but Dennis Allen has concerns with him securing the ball as he has struggled with that in camp so far.
Fan favorite Charles Woodson has put on a great performance in Napa the last couple days. On Thursday he picked off Schaub twice, and yesterday he got another pick from a deflected pass, that David Ausberry tipped, from Schaub.
Personally didn’t see a lot from the tight ends on Friday besides a dropped pass by Mychal Rivera and a ball that should have been caught by Nick Kasa. Rivera had a good season last year for the silver and black, but Ausberry is still the favorite.
The running backs looked good, both Jones-Drew and McFadden showed off some speed. Oakland could have a very dynamic run game if Jones-Drew and McFadden can stay healthy for all 16.
A concern from last year was kicking specialist Sebastian Janikowski. Yesterday he made all of his field goal attempts including a 55-plus yarder. Marquette King was his holder, and seeing him make the long field goals with King was a great sign.
Defensively I didn’t see too much of rookie Khalil Mack as he was on the other side of the field, but from what I could see he made quick moves and went after the offense.
Tarell Brown made some good defensive plays when covering Holmes swatting the ball away.
The Oakland Raiders have a tough schedule this year, but there is a lot of optimism in camp. The offense looks better than it did last year with the defense also making some nice plays. The Raiders first preseason game is Friday August 8th in Minnesota against the Vikings, and while it is only preseason it will be fun to see how this new Raiders team performs in a game situation.