The Raiders have two more stretches of OTAs in June, as well as the team’s mandatory minicamp. Head coach Josh McDaniels spoke at a press conference Thursday to discuss what he’s seen so far from his group at OTAs from March 23, 24 and 26.
“If there’s anything I can say about this group, I think they believe in themselves, their teammates, what they’re doing, how they work, and they want to put their best foot forward everyday,” McDaniels said. “When they don’t, they recognize that, they know they can do better, and they will.”
McDaniels spoke about the team’s workout with free agent QB Colin Kaepernick and whether or not incumbent starting quarterback Derek Carr was consulted before the team brought Kaepernick in. McDaniels made it clear that is a non-issue and that Carr has been leading the team at OTAs.
“I think Derek is pretty comfortable with where he’s at. I think he knows who he is for us, he knows how I feel about him, how we feel about him… I don’t think that’s really a big thing to Derek at this point. He knows this is his football team and he’s working like it out on the field… I’m very pleased with what he’s doing so far.”
2021 first-round pick Alex Leatherwood struggled out of the gates at right tackle as a rookie before the coaching staff slid him inside to right guard. Early in OTAs, Leatherwood has been getting work in at both positions.
“We’ve been moving (Leatherwood) around a little bit… There was a little bit more of a focus of (getting reps at tackle) today… he’s certainly working his butt off right now to try to give us the right stuff wherever we put him.”
DE Maxx Crosby also made an appearance at the press conference and discussed working with new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
“Coach Graham is a great coach,” Crosby said. “He’s very straightforward with what he wants, he’s got a lot of confidence and I feel like that passes down to the players… I think the guys have responded really well, so we’re just trying to improve and learn every single day.”
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