Teams Las Vegas Raiders - The Black Hole

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andana said:
Bradley Looking To Have A Three D Line Rotation To Keep All Game Pressure On QBs.
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Ngakoue, Crosby, Koonce and Ferrell will rotate as DEs. Ferrell will play end on some early downs, otherwise the majority of snaps will go to Ngakoue and Crosby with Koonce pinch hitting every now and then.

The interior tackles is where it gets interesting. Solomon Thomas and Ferrell will get plenty of time, but there's also Darius Philon and even Kendall Vickers. Hankins will see time on early downs as a nose tackle.

I like the look of the ends but there aren't any DTs that give me confidence.
 
Chewy316 said:
Ngakoue, Crosby, Koonce and Ferrell will rotate as DEs. Ferrell will play end on some early downs, otherwise the majority of snaps will go to Ngakoue and Crosby with Koonce pinch hitting every now and then.

The interior tackles is where it gets interesting. Solomon Thomas and Ferrell will get plenty of time, but there's also Darius Philon and even Kendall Vickers. Hankins will see time on early downs as a nose tackle.

I like the look of the ends but there aren't any DTs that give me confidence.
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Can add Jefferson and Nassib and they seem keen on Stills
 
andana said:
Can add Jefferson and Nassib and they seem keen on Stills
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Totally forgot those the first two (my bad). Doesn't move the needle though. Where did you get the idea theyre keen on Stills? The fan buzz is keen around him but otherwise he's just another UDFA who lacks size and will struggle to make the roster.
 

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andana said:
Stills will get a game somewhere. Got some good moves
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He loses balance and ends up on the ground way too much. I think he will be a practice squad player this year - he's certainly worth persisting with to give a shot but I don't think he's someone who you can rely on to take snaps on day 1.

His brother Dante also plays on the D-Line for the Mountaineers and imo is a better player - will probably be drafted next April.
 
Its crazy how the highest paid NFL player has basically doubled in just a few years.....

Derek Carr, with two years left on his current contract, isn’t worried about his next one

Posted by Mike Florio on July 28, 2021, 9:18 AM EDT

For a fairly brief moment in 2017, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr held the title of highest-paid player in the NFL. Carr now has two years left on his $25 million per year deal — and he’s a full $20 million per year behind the top of the market.

In a recent interview with Vic Tafur of TheAthletic.com, Carr was asked whether he’s concerned about his contract status.

“Not at all,” Carr said. “I know that coach [Jon] Gruden, [General Manager Mike] Mayock and my agent have talked about those things and they have a plan. Obviously, I don’t share anything like that. And I have told my agent, ‘Honestly, whether it’s now or next year, or whenever they want to do it, I really don’t care.’ I want to win the Super Bowl. That’s why I signed to stay here. That’s why, if I sign again, it’s to stay here. Because I want to win here.

“They have talked about those things and they will continue to talk about those things, and that relationship has been great and healthy. But I am in a place now where I am 30 years old, Year Eight, where I . . . in the nicest way I can say this, I just don’t care about that stuff. I have been the highest-paid player. What did that get me? Nothing. . . . I don’t have a Super Bowl ring. You want to be paid what you’re worth and you want to be paid in a respected way, but I don’t need to be the highest-paid player again. I don’t need all that. I don’t care to do that again, man. I just want a good team around me. They all know that and that’s what they’re working on, that’s what they have been talking about — how to do that in the best way. I know where I am with the organization. I know where I am at with Gru. That stuff will take care of itself. I am not worried about it.”

It’s good that Carr doesn’t want to be the highest-paid player in the NFL again, because that’s never happening again. His temporary moment came during a cycle when the next competent quarterback up for a new contract became the marker leader, starting with Andrew Luck and continuing with Carr before quickly moving to Matthew Stafford then Jimmy Garoppolo then Kirk Cousins then Matt Ryan. In less than a year from the moment Carr signed, the top of the market moved from $25 million to $30 million.

Carr won’t be catching Patrick Mahomes or Dak Prescott or any of the young guys who may soon reset the market, or come close to it. For Carr (like for many other quarterbacks), the real question is whether the Raiders remain comfortable with “good enough” or whether they will decide to try to get a top-five or top-10 player.

Carr isn’t a top-10 quarterback. (He’s close, but he’s not there.) He’s definitely not a top-five guy and never will be. Unless the Raiders can put the team around him that allows it to thrive despite the fact that he’s not one of the best in the game, at some point they’ll have to decide whether to upgrade at the most important position in the game.
 
Jon Gruden: Derek Carr is a really good quarterback who’s starting to play great

Posted by Myles Simmons on July 28, 2021, 11:56 AM EDT

After significant instability at offensive coordinator and play-caller through his first few seasons, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is entering his fourth season with head coach Jon Gruden running the show.

Carr’s numbers have gotten better each season since 2018, with the QB passing for a career-high 4,103 yards last season with 27 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. Carr’s passer rating was a career-high 101.4.

So even though it feels like every year there are offseason rumors that the Raiders could attempt to upgrade from Carr, Gruden told reporters at his Tuesday press conference that Carr does a good job of ignoring the noise and going to work.

“Well you just can’t worry about some of the swirling conversations,” Gruden said. “I was a part of those swirling conversations for nine years. You know, we have to earn our money. So don’t pay attention to everything that’s being written. Derek knows what he’s all about and what kind of quarterback he is. So just try not to listen to the elevator music and worry about the things you can’t control.

“He’s a heck of a guy. He’s a really mentally tough guy. And he’s a really good quarterback that is really starting to play great for us. And I think people are starting to recognize that.”

Carr has two years remaining on his current contract and said in a recent interview with TheAthletic.com that he’s not concerned about his next one. But if Carr continues to progress and Las Vegas makes the postseason for the first time since 2016, then there’s a good chance the quarterback will be putting pen to paper on an extension next year.
 
what a powerfully built beast, 1000+ yard season coming up eaaaasssssy....

Henry Ruggs said he gained 13 pounds this offseason in an effort to be a more physical player.
Ruggs is hoping it leads to more production in the passing game and as a runner. The 22-year-old was given just nine carries as a rookie. Doubling that number would be nice as a way to get the ball in the playmaker's hands more in year two. Getting tougher will also help in the short passing game; Ruggs has no choice but to be better there because Derek Carr refuses to throw the ball deep. Ruggs is Vegas' No. 1 receiver and is a worthwhile flier in the mid-to-late rounds of fantasy drafts.
 
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Gus Bradley’s system. Will see some split-safety coverage — but still a heavy Cover 3/single-high safety defense. Should put Abram in a position to read his keys & play fast. Create impact plays as an underneath defender.






@PGutierrezESPN
#Raiders Johnathan Abram, on moving to more of a box safety: "Taking it one day at a time...overall, I feel really good about the move."
 
The Athletic's Vic Tafur believes Raiders DE Clelin Ferrell could "have a hard time winning a lot of playing time."
That's "let alone a starting role." It would appear Ferrell has fallen behind each of Yannick Ngakoue, Maxx Crosby and Solomon Thomas on the depth chart. Per Tafur, coach Jon Gruden "almost forgot about Ferrell" when talking about the Raiders' defensive line on the first day of camp before "(catching) himself." “Certainly, he’s going to be competing,” Gruden claimed of Ferrell. The No. 4 overall pick of the 2019 draft already had his playing time dialed back last season, clearing 50 snaps only four times. The Raiders are simply killing their chances of building a deep 53-man roster with awful early-round selections.
SOURCE: The Athletic
Jul 29, 2021, 7:23 PM ET
 
If you track Alex Leatherwood long enough on the Raiders’ practice field, one thing becomes clear. His no-nonsense, workmanlike demeanor defies his status as an NFL rookie

The way he plays and interacts with teammates, it feels as if he’s been here for years. It all starts with his bottom-line, matter-of-fact approach. “I’m here to work,” Leatherwood said on Saturday.

A longtime friend could only smile when someone mentioned Leatherwood’s old-school ways. “That’s always been Alex,” Raiders running back Josh Jacobs said with a laugh.
 

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Assuming everyone is healthy going into the season (which I have no doubt won't be the case), my 53 man roster projection:

QB: Carr, Mariota, Peterman
RB: Jacobs, Drake, Richard
FB: Ingold
WR: Ruggs, Edwards, Renfrow, Brown, Jones, Stoner
TE: Waller, Moreau, Carrier
O-Line: Miller, Incognito, James, Simpson, Leatherwood, Martin, Good, Parker, Jones-Smith

D-Line: Ngakoue, Hankins, Jefferson, Crosby, Ferrell, Koonce, Nassib, Thomas, Philon, Dickerson
LB: Littleton, Morrow, Kwiatkoski, Diablo, Muse
CB: Hayward Jr., Mullen, Lawson, Douglas, Arnette, Hobbs
S: Moehrig, Abram, Joseph, Gillespie

K: Carlson
P: Cole
LS: Sieg

Only two spots I really had trouble picking were the 6th WR and picking between Vickers and Philon. I think Vickers is a better player but the coaches have loved what Philon has brought to the team. I wouldn't be shocked either if Solomon Thomas is a "surprise" cut during the final roster cutdown.
 
GG.exe said:
Javin White apparently making a strong push at LB
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Likely will be on the practice squad.

manureid said:
Arnette struggling still? Another magnificent 1st round selection coming up
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Arnette has been spending a LOT of time with Casey Hayward this off-season. Don't write him off yet.
 
No “win-now mandate” for Jon Gruden

Posted by Mike Florio on August 2, 2021, 10:23 AM EDT

Jon Gruden 2.0 has gone 0-3 when it comes to getting to the playoffs. Few if any other coaches could avoid being on the hot seat in year four.
Gruden nevertheless seems to be safe.

Reporting from Raiders training camp in Nevada, Peter King writes in his Football Morning in America column that Gruden isn’t under a “win-now mandate” from owner Mark Davis.

As to Gruden and Davis, it’s no surprise. Gruden is the coach Davis coveted from the moment he took over the team. Davis has him, and Davis isn’t letting him go — even if Gruden extends his non-playoff streak to four.

It also helps that Gruden has a way of selling the glass as 39.5 percent full, after King asked Gruden if he’s pissed at having only 19 wins in 48 games.

“I’m not pissed,” Gruden said. “I’m excited about the progress we’ve made. We weren’t very good. We had, I think, 20 new starters my first year. Our second year, we got off to a pretty good start. We lost our right tackle. We lost our right guard. We lost our featured back down the stretch. We struggled. And we lost games against Jacksonville and Denver late in the year. You gotta really see it to believe how we lost those games. Got off to a good start last year. Decimated at times because of the virus. We had a tough schedule. But we were in the playoff hunt last couple years until the latter part of the season. I think we are improving. But I don’t like to lose. I don’t like hearing 19-29. I do like the feeling of progress. We were 6-2 in the West. 6-2 on the road, that’s pretty good. We gotta continue to get better obviously at home.”

But it’s not like Gruden inherited a crap franchise. The year before he took the job, the team went 12-4 and made it to the playoffs. But he pushed out G.M. Reggie McKenzie, who’d built that team, and then brought in Mike Mayock to replace him.

Now, Mayock moves into the scapegoat splash zone. If the team fails to make the playoffs in 2021 — and given the top-heavy nature of the AFC, it’s hard not to think the Raiders won’t get one of the seven seats at the playoff table — Mayock probably needs to worry about Gruden blaming it all on him, just like Gruden blamed it all on defensive coordinator Paul Guenther during the 2020 season.

Indeed, there was chatter in the aftermath of last season that Mayock could be the next to go. The problem for Gruden is simple; if he gets rid of Mayock, how can Gruden know he’ll replace Mayock with someone as good or better?

At some point, the blame needs to come back to Gruden. But of all the Raiders fans in the world, only one gets a vote on whether Gruden remains. And Mark Davis doesn’t seem to be remotely close to thinking about making a change.
 
Raiders OT Sam Young is retiring after 11 years in the league.
The Raiders re-signed Young earlier this offseason after he made a career-high seven starts for them in 2020. The veteran tackle was poised to return to a bench role this season but could have provided valuable depth for a team that completely revamped their offensive line this offseason. Young played for six teams across his 11-year career. He's the third Raider to retire since training camp started.
RELATED:
SOURCE: Field Yates on Twitter
Aug 3, 2021, 4:49 PM ET
 
Another Raiders executive makes abrupt exit

Posted by Mike Florio on August 3, 2021, 7:29 PM EDT

First, it was team president Marc Badain. Now, it’s V.P. of strategy and business development Brandon Doll.
Via Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, Doll left the team last week. Doll declined comment as to the reason for the move.

Doll had spent eight years with the team, with his first position being finance intern.

As Fischer explains it, Doll served as Badain’s right-hand man during the stadium effort that began with a failed attempt to get a stadium built in Oakland and ended with a new venue in Las Vegas.

Peter King, who recently visited Raiders camp, wrote in Football Morning in America that no one with the team is saying why Badain left.
“I heard lots of theories about why he left,” King added. “That he didn’t approve of some of the spending by owner Mark Davis in the midst of a disastrous first financial season in Las Vegas (including Davis’ decision to buy the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces), that he was just tired of the nonstop pace of running a franchise in a new city, that he and Davis were having significant disagreements on the direction of the franchise at a time when money was tight.”

Regardless, Badain is out. Doll is out. And it makes sense to wonder whether who will be out next.
 
fumbler said:
It still feels weird looking for Oakland in the team threads only to go through every team to remember that it's now Las Vegas.

How many more years will i do this?
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Dunno, how many years do goldfish live for? :p
 
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