alteredst8
Misery Loves Company
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Official Training Camp thread...
- Thread starter raiderfreak7
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Sleet
"busy" during Raider losses
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Not all pass-rushers win the same way, but there are a few more tried and true ways than others. Hopefully Ferrell finds his way at the next level.
007
Commitment To Excrement
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STFU
alteredst8
Misery Loves Company
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Seems to me power and technique is the most consistent path to success for a DE. Not saying it's the only path, but the more consistant.
If you find a guy who has it all power/speed/technique you should trade him away... who needs a guy like that anyways.
MostWanted650
If you stop struggling, then you stop life
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Langlier
Settle Down...
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He’s awful
hawaiianboy
Unfuckupable
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I don't think anyone is getting double digit sacks... in fact I think Joyner will get 5 or 6 on blitzes and be right there challenging for the team lead...
Oh yeah, Mack will get 15+ and be defensive POY
Oh yeah, Mack will get 15+ and be defensive POY
Chris_77
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Don’t need double digits to be league average. Just spreading them around which I think is possible.
raiderfreak7
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Mike Daniels just released by the Packers. Kind of a shocker. I'd love to add him to the DL. His old DL coach is an assistant coach here... Mike Trgovac.
Last edited:
RF34
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Raiders keys: The 10 players who will have the biggest impact on the 2019 season
By David Lombardi 1h ago
After an offseason of big spending in terms of both financial and draft capital, the Raiders are set for training camp. Many new names will fill the 2019 depth chart, and several of those newcomers should have an immediate impact on the team’s success or failure.
This isn’t a list of the Raiders’ 10 best players — though there’ll inevitably be overlap with that group. Instead, it’s a look at hinge points on the roster where solid performances — or lack thereof — will determine the team’s fortunes this season.
10. Cornerback Gareon Conley
Conley surged down the stretch run of his second NFL season in 2018 and perhaps this could be taken as a bright spot for a Raiders secondary that allowed 8.2 yards per pass attempt — worst in the NFL. (Of course, a virtually nonexistent pass rush was a huge contributing factor to the struggles, but we’ll get to that in a bit.)
If the Raiders are to turn this ship around, they’ll need first-round performances from all or most of the first-round picks on this roster, with Conley being one of them. Last season was his first full season in which his play improved throughout the year.
Conley must continue to develop into the type of corner that the Raiders can consistently trust against top opposing receivers. All good defenses need such a piece in the secondary — that’s the key to triggering a positive domino effect of DB matchups and performance across the board.
9. Running back Jalen Richard
In Alabama’s Josh Jacobs, Raiders coach Jon Gruden drafted a primary back in the first round this offseason. Expect Jacobs to get plenty of run (and catch), but also consider just how much the game as evolved:
Warren Sharp
✔@SharpFootball
RBs with over 15 rush att in 10+ games:
https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/1153098156277751808
The days of the lone bell cow are over. And with backs occupying an increasingly bigger space in the passing game, the depth of receiving skill at the position often determines if an offense can generate impactful mismatches downfield.
So, who’s the Raiders’ leading returning receiver? That’s right, it’s Richard, whose 607 yards through the air in 2018 weren’t far behind the pace of tight end Jared Cook (896 yards) and receiver Jordy Nelson (739 yards) — both of whom are no longer with the team.
The Raiders have obviously reconstructed their pass-catching arsenal. Thanks mainly to Antonio Brown, they should enjoy much more production from the wideout position, and Jacobs will also presumably catch his share of passes. But that shouldn’t discount Richard as an essential cog in this offense. That’ll be especially true if the Raiders struggle to protect Derek Carr again, since Richard entrenched himself as the quarterback’s primary safety valve last year.
In the best case scenario, if the Raiders’ revamped offensive line does keep Carr clean and the downfield passing game to Brown and Tyrell Williams is fully operational, Richard could also be in line for an explosive season. This can be a point of comparative advantage for the Raiders: Richard can be a mismatch generator in space, complementing Jacobs as a bullet coming out of the backfield.
8. Defensive back Lamarcus Joyner
Discussing Richard’s skill set makes for a nice segue to talking defensive backs, simply because modern NFL secondaries require positional versatility to counter all the adaptability that’s thriving on the offensive end.
Enter Joyner, the former Los Angeles Rams safety whom the Raiders signed to a four-year, $42-million deal this offseason. The 5-foot-8 Joyner’s greatest value comes from the fact that he has the physical skill set to roam the Raiders’ secondary. Thanks to this, there should be greater confidence in the team’s safety room — where rookie Johnathan Abram (another first-round draft pick) is expected to start — and at slot cornerback.
That’s where Joyner should be able to make the biggest impact. Slot corner is a hybridized role tasked with guarding some of the quickest receivers and those pesky pass-catching backs. The Raiders were shaky defensively in this critical facet last year, and they’re paying Joyner to fix that.
7. Center Rodney Hudson
The Raiders might’ve struggled to protect Carr last year, but it certainly wasn’t Hudson’s fault. Per Pro Football Focus, in over 609 pass-blocking snaps, Hudson didn’t allow a single sack and only surrendered one QB hit. His pass-blocking efficiency score led all NFL centers, and Hudson also graded out as a top-10 run blocker at the position.
I typically don’t include consistent stalwarts on lists like this — potential volatility is more of the norm — but this is an exceptional situation considering the state of transition the Raiders face up front. One of their tackles, Kolton Miller, struggled mightily during his 2018 rookie season. And one of their guard spots — particularly Richie Incognito’s (he’s suspended for the first two games of 2019) — cannot be considered a position of stability at this point.
That puts tremendous responsibility on Hudson’s shoulders, not only to maintain his top-notch play, but also to guide the Raiders offensive line into a state of cohesion that forms a solid offensive backbone this time around.
6. Linebacker Vontaze Burfict
When looking for defensive improvement, it’s tough to rely on a player who has racked up over $4 million in fines in his career, but the Raiders are starved for better linebacker play and Burfict is a wild card who has the talent to give them that. The question, of course, is whether or not Burfict can stay out of his own way in order to contribute consistently.
The Raiders also signed former Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall this offseason. He’ll man the middle linebacker spot, presumably upgrading the defense. It’ll likely be Burfict on the weak side, with the hope being that his familiarity with the defense (he played under Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther in Cincinnati) will make for a productive pairing.
The main issue: Burfict has only averaged 8.6 games per season over the past five years, and the Raiders badly need more than half a body of work at his spot. So this is a shaky proposition, to say the least.
By David Lombardi 1h ago
After an offseason of big spending in terms of both financial and draft capital, the Raiders are set for training camp. Many new names will fill the 2019 depth chart, and several of those newcomers should have an immediate impact on the team’s success or failure.
This isn’t a list of the Raiders’ 10 best players — though there’ll inevitably be overlap with that group. Instead, it’s a look at hinge points on the roster where solid performances — or lack thereof — will determine the team’s fortunes this season.
10. Cornerback Gareon Conley
Conley surged down the stretch run of his second NFL season in 2018 and perhaps this could be taken as a bright spot for a Raiders secondary that allowed 8.2 yards per pass attempt — worst in the NFL. (Of course, a virtually nonexistent pass rush was a huge contributing factor to the struggles, but we’ll get to that in a bit.)
If the Raiders are to turn this ship around, they’ll need first-round performances from all or most of the first-round picks on this roster, with Conley being one of them. Last season was his first full season in which his play improved throughout the year.
Conley must continue to develop into the type of corner that the Raiders can consistently trust against top opposing receivers. All good defenses need such a piece in the secondary — that’s the key to triggering a positive domino effect of DB matchups and performance across the board.
9. Running back Jalen Richard
In Alabama’s Josh Jacobs, Raiders coach Jon Gruden drafted a primary back in the first round this offseason. Expect Jacobs to get plenty of run (and catch), but also consider just how much the game as evolved:
Warren Sharp✔@SharpFootball
RBs with over 15 rush att in 10+ games:
https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/1153098156277751808
The days of the lone bell cow are over. And with backs occupying an increasingly bigger space in the passing game, the depth of receiving skill at the position often determines if an offense can generate impactful mismatches downfield.
So, who’s the Raiders’ leading returning receiver? That’s right, it’s Richard, whose 607 yards through the air in 2018 weren’t far behind the pace of tight end Jared Cook (896 yards) and receiver Jordy Nelson (739 yards) — both of whom are no longer with the team.
The Raiders have obviously reconstructed their pass-catching arsenal. Thanks mainly to Antonio Brown, they should enjoy much more production from the wideout position, and Jacobs will also presumably catch his share of passes. But that shouldn’t discount Richard as an essential cog in this offense. That’ll be especially true if the Raiders struggle to protect Derek Carr again, since Richard entrenched himself as the quarterback’s primary safety valve last year.
In the best case scenario, if the Raiders’ revamped offensive line does keep Carr clean and the downfield passing game to Brown and Tyrell Williams is fully operational, Richard could also be in line for an explosive season. This can be a point of comparative advantage for the Raiders: Richard can be a mismatch generator in space, complementing Jacobs as a bullet coming out of the backfield.
8. Defensive back Lamarcus Joyner
Discussing Richard’s skill set makes for a nice segue to talking defensive backs, simply because modern NFL secondaries require positional versatility to counter all the adaptability that’s thriving on the offensive end.
Enter Joyner, the former Los Angeles Rams safety whom the Raiders signed to a four-year, $42-million deal this offseason. The 5-foot-8 Joyner’s greatest value comes from the fact that he has the physical skill set to roam the Raiders’ secondary. Thanks to this, there should be greater confidence in the team’s safety room — where rookie Johnathan Abram (another first-round draft pick) is expected to start — and at slot cornerback.
That’s where Joyner should be able to make the biggest impact. Slot corner is a hybridized role tasked with guarding some of the quickest receivers and those pesky pass-catching backs. The Raiders were shaky defensively in this critical facet last year, and they’re paying Joyner to fix that.
7. Center Rodney Hudson
The Raiders might’ve struggled to protect Carr last year, but it certainly wasn’t Hudson’s fault. Per Pro Football Focus, in over 609 pass-blocking snaps, Hudson didn’t allow a single sack and only surrendered one QB hit. His pass-blocking efficiency score led all NFL centers, and Hudson also graded out as a top-10 run blocker at the position.
I typically don’t include consistent stalwarts on lists like this — potential volatility is more of the norm — but this is an exceptional situation considering the state of transition the Raiders face up front. One of their tackles, Kolton Miller, struggled mightily during his 2018 rookie season. And one of their guard spots — particularly Richie Incognito’s (he’s suspended for the first two games of 2019) — cannot be considered a position of stability at this point.
That puts tremendous responsibility on Hudson’s shoulders, not only to maintain his top-notch play, but also to guide the Raiders offensive line into a state of cohesion that forms a solid offensive backbone this time around.
6. Linebacker Vontaze Burfict
When looking for defensive improvement, it’s tough to rely on a player who has racked up over $4 million in fines in his career, but the Raiders are starved for better linebacker play and Burfict is a wild card who has the talent to give them that. The question, of course, is whether or not Burfict can stay out of his own way in order to contribute consistently.
The Raiders also signed former Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall this offseason. He’ll man the middle linebacker spot, presumably upgrading the defense. It’ll likely be Burfict on the weak side, with the hope being that his familiarity with the defense (he played under Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther in Cincinnati) will make for a productive pairing.
The main issue: Burfict has only averaged 8.6 games per season over the past five years, and the Raiders badly need more than half a body of work at his spot. So this is a shaky proposition, to say the least.
RF34
Habitual Line Stepper
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5. Offensive tackle Kolton Miller
No NFL tackle allowed more sacks (16) than Miller did last year. (That’s three more sacks than the Raiders defense generated as a team.) Put simply, the first-rounder improve significantly in his second season, or Carr and the Raiders are in trouble.
Gruden certainly believes in Miller: He’s keeping him at left tackle, in charge of shielding Carr’s blind side, even though the Raiders gave new addition Trent Brown the largest contract for a lineman in NFL history. Brown will play right tackle.
Some of the game’s best edge rushers, including divisional opponents such as Denver’s Von Miller and the Los Angeles Chargers’ Melvin Ingram, rush against right tackle — so Brown will bear the brunt of the toughest battles. But success there will go for naught if Miller remains a sieve on the left side.
4. Receiver Antonio Brown
Brown will be 31 years old this season, and that makes the question of his career trajectory a fascinating one. Below are Brown’s league ranks in yards per route run (YPRR), perhaps PFF’s best measure of receiving efficiency, over the past six seasons. NFL ranks are in parentheses:
2013: 2.48 YPRR (No. 4)
2014: 2.67 YPRR (No. 6)
2015: 2.90 YPRR (No. 2)
2016: 2.26 YPRR (No. 6)
2017: 2.87 YPRR (No. 2)
2018: 1.94 YPRR (No. 17)
Why the drop-off in 2018? Perhaps Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger looked for receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster more often, thus depressing Brown’s number of targets. Or maybe Brown lost a quarter-step at age 30, as NFL players who’ve racked up consider mileage are wont to do. There’s a chance that both of these factors are true, and that they coincided to make Brown less efficient — though he did score a career-best 15 touchdowns in 2018.
So everything remains on the table, and that includes a 2019 explosion from Brown. Imagine a perfect pairing with Carr, a vault back into the NFL’s top-five when it comes to YPRR efficiency, and a replication of last season’s touchdown haul. Top-flight results like that would absolutely justify the Raiders’ investment in Brown. Now, we’ll see if that level of production is still possible at this stage of the receiver’s career. It would open the field for the rest of the offense.
3. Defensive end Arden Key
Several factors contributed to the Raiders being the NFL’s worst defense in 2018, but their lack of edge pressure topped this list.
Just how bad was the Raiders’ pass rush? They managed only 13 sacks on the season. For comparison, the New York Giants racked up 30 sacks — and they were the league’s second-worst performer. On top of that, only four Raiders sacks came from edge rushers, and only one — Key’s lone QB takedown of his rookie season — returns to the roster.
So the situation can’t possibly get worse, but if the Raiders are to make any progress as a defense, it’ll have to get exponentially better. Key said that he bulked up from 245 pounds to 260 pounds during the offseason program, a strengthening that he hopes will bolster his power rush and help turn the Raiders’ fortunes around on one edge.
2. Defensive end Clelin Ferrell
Here’s the other piece of that edge-rushing puzzle. No. 4 overall draft picks rarely have the chance to be eased into the starting lineup, and that’s especially true for Ferrell in these circumstances. The Clemson product must make an immediately impact. Such is the Raiders’ current desperation for QB pressure.
As a prospect, Ferrell is as steady as they come. A dominant force on a dominant defensive line in a dominant Clemson program, he was a first-round draft lock for a long while. The Raiders surprised many by picking Ferrell so highly in the first round, but Gruden obviously saw him as the top pass-rushing end available at the time. It’s a decision that will be scrutinized heavily, since Ferrell is the Raiders’ first aggressive bid to replace the prolific pass-rushing production of Khalil Mack.
1. Quarterback Derek Carr
You may have wondered if Carr was Gruden’s guy as the Raiders trudged through the doldrums of 2018. Well, at least for 2019, Carr is the man. Nothing is set in stone beyond this season, since the Raiders will be able to exit Carr’s contract at a dead money hit of only $5 million in 2020, but that’s something both sides would like to avoid by enjoying prosperity in 2019.
Derek Carr: Through the years
Year Comp % Yards per att. TD:INT ratio QBR Sacks
Carr had his share of haywire moments last year and he certainly looked gun shy at times, but he did manage a career-best 7.3 yards per attempt even though the Raiders didn’t properly position him for success. Opponents sacked Carr 51 times, more than twice the average amount of annual sacks that the QB took in his first four seasons. It’s no coincidence that 2016, Carr’s best season so far, came when the line kept him most clean. That’s evidenced above.
The 2018 Raiders failed to build adequate protection up front, and they did more to empty Carr’s cupboard of receiving weapons than to fill it. This was most obvious when they traded receiver Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys. That move, of course, wasn’t made for short-term gratification, but we’ve moved into the longer-term now, and the Raiders have revamped their offensive line and made splashy additions to their receiving corps.
How Carr performs within this ostensibly improved offense will be the Raiders’ greatest determinant of 2019 success, and also a massive driver of their complexion under Gruden beyond that.
No NFL tackle allowed more sacks (16) than Miller did last year. (That’s three more sacks than the Raiders defense generated as a team.) Put simply, the first-rounder improve significantly in his second season, or Carr and the Raiders are in trouble.
Gruden certainly believes in Miller: He’s keeping him at left tackle, in charge of shielding Carr’s blind side, even though the Raiders gave new addition Trent Brown the largest contract for a lineman in NFL history. Brown will play right tackle.
Some of the game’s best edge rushers, including divisional opponents such as Denver’s Von Miller and the Los Angeles Chargers’ Melvin Ingram, rush against right tackle — so Brown will bear the brunt of the toughest battles. But success there will go for naught if Miller remains a sieve on the left side.
4. Receiver Antonio Brown
Brown will be 31 years old this season, and that makes the question of his career trajectory a fascinating one. Below are Brown’s league ranks in yards per route run (YPRR), perhaps PFF’s best measure of receiving efficiency, over the past six seasons. NFL ranks are in parentheses:
2013: 2.48 YPRR (No. 4)
2014: 2.67 YPRR (No. 6)
2015: 2.90 YPRR (No. 2)
2016: 2.26 YPRR (No. 6)
2017: 2.87 YPRR (No. 2)
2018: 1.94 YPRR (No. 17)
Why the drop-off in 2018? Perhaps Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger looked for receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster more often, thus depressing Brown’s number of targets. Or maybe Brown lost a quarter-step at age 30, as NFL players who’ve racked up consider mileage are wont to do. There’s a chance that both of these factors are true, and that they coincided to make Brown less efficient — though he did score a career-best 15 touchdowns in 2018.
So everything remains on the table, and that includes a 2019 explosion from Brown. Imagine a perfect pairing with Carr, a vault back into the NFL’s top-five when it comes to YPRR efficiency, and a replication of last season’s touchdown haul. Top-flight results like that would absolutely justify the Raiders’ investment in Brown. Now, we’ll see if that level of production is still possible at this stage of the receiver’s career. It would open the field for the rest of the offense.
3. Defensive end Arden Key
Several factors contributed to the Raiders being the NFL’s worst defense in 2018, but their lack of edge pressure topped this list.
Just how bad was the Raiders’ pass rush? They managed only 13 sacks on the season. For comparison, the New York Giants racked up 30 sacks — and they were the league’s second-worst performer. On top of that, only four Raiders sacks came from edge rushers, and only one — Key’s lone QB takedown of his rookie season — returns to the roster.
So the situation can’t possibly get worse, but if the Raiders are to make any progress as a defense, it’ll have to get exponentially better. Key said that he bulked up from 245 pounds to 260 pounds during the offseason program, a strengthening that he hopes will bolster his power rush and help turn the Raiders’ fortunes around on one edge.
2. Defensive end Clelin Ferrell
Here’s the other piece of that edge-rushing puzzle. No. 4 overall draft picks rarely have the chance to be eased into the starting lineup, and that’s especially true for Ferrell in these circumstances. The Clemson product must make an immediately impact. Such is the Raiders’ current desperation for QB pressure.
As a prospect, Ferrell is as steady as they come. A dominant force on a dominant defensive line in a dominant Clemson program, he was a first-round draft lock for a long while. The Raiders surprised many by picking Ferrell so highly in the first round, but Gruden obviously saw him as the top pass-rushing end available at the time. It’s a decision that will be scrutinized heavily, since Ferrell is the Raiders’ first aggressive bid to replace the prolific pass-rushing production of Khalil Mack.
1. Quarterback Derek Carr
You may have wondered if Carr was Gruden’s guy as the Raiders trudged through the doldrums of 2018. Well, at least for 2019, Carr is the man. Nothing is set in stone beyond this season, since the Raiders will be able to exit Carr’s contract at a dead money hit of only $5 million in 2020, but that’s something both sides would like to avoid by enjoying prosperity in 2019.
Derek Carr: Through the years
Year Comp % Yards per att. TD:INT ratio QBR Sacks
Carr had his share of haywire moments last year and he certainly looked gun shy at times, but he did manage a career-best 7.3 yards per attempt even though the Raiders didn’t properly position him for success. Opponents sacked Carr 51 times, more than twice the average amount of annual sacks that the QB took in his first four seasons. It’s no coincidence that 2016, Carr’s best season so far, came when the line kept him most clean. That’s evidenced above.
The 2018 Raiders failed to build adequate protection up front, and they did more to empty Carr’s cupboard of receiving weapons than to fill it. This was most obvious when they traded receiver Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys. That move, of course, wasn’t made for short-term gratification, but we’ve moved into the longer-term now, and the Raiders have revamped their offensive line and made splashy additions to their receiving corps.
How Carr performs within this ostensibly improved offense will be the Raiders’ greatest determinant of 2019 success, and also a massive driver of their complexion under Gruden beyond that.
Chris_77
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Dummy McIdiot
SMDH
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Thanks jinx.
Dummy McIdiot
SMDH
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Poor bastard. His talent is being waisted on protecting a noodle armed turtle.Elite...
Dummy McIdiot
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Sportzfan76
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Love It !
Madturk
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