Raiders LT Donald Penn skips start of training camp

NAPA, Calif. — The Raiders settled this week into wine country, their hotel headquarters adjacent to two practice fields. Picturesque waterfalls and rose gardens border the hotel entry. A wooden swingset and white gazebo sit beside an outdoor patio behind the main building.

This is the serene home of the Raiders until mid-August.

An unlikely site for a standoff.

Donald Penn was not among the veteran players who reported to training camp Friday morning as required. The left tackle is holding out for a new contract, sources confirmed, the start of a potentially ugly situation. It comes for a franchise lodging at a weekend getaway destination at a time when it carries Super Bowl aspirations.

The offensive line, among the very best in the NFL, is a large reason for those expectations.

Penn is a key part of it, and he seeks to be compensated accordingly.

Such is Penn’s right. He outperformed his first season of a two-year, $12.95 million contract. Thirteen tackles in the NFL average more than $10 million per season. Penn is due a $5.8 million salary in 2017. His deal also featured a $200,000 workout bonus for reporting to training camp on time. He can earn up to $750,000 from in-season incentives.

Penn, 34, appears to have some leverage.

The Raiders must protect quarterback Derek Carr in an AFC West rampant with edge rushers. Penn is instrumental in that effort. He allowed one sack all of last season, albeit the costliest one — he tripped on the Week 16 play that saw Carr’s season end with a broken fibula. He played all 16 regular-season games before a left knee injury sidelined him in a January playoff loss versus the Texans.

The team will feature a new Week 1 starter at right tackle after having released Austin Howard on Thursday.

A Raiders spokesman declined comment on the situation.

The team can fine Penn up to $40,000 for any unexcused training-camp absence. He was not in Napa on Friday. Indications are he won’t be Saturday, either, for the first full-squad practice.

The team practices again Sunday and is in pads Monday for the first time this offseason.

Center Rodney Hudson didn’t seemed surprised or concerned Friday with Penn’s absence.

“We’ve talked throughout the offseason,” Hudson said. “I haven’t quite spoken to him today, but those things are going to work themselves out at some point.”

The Raiders are of the belief this could be a special season.

They are well aware this belief is shared by many outside their organization.

The club is a trendy pick to unseat the New England Patriots in the AFC. It has a vaunted offense led by Carr, wide receivers Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, running back Marshawn Lynch and the aforementioned line. Buzz abounds. Players know the importance of tuning out the noise and not allowing it to be a distraction.

A prolonged holdout would be one more thing to ignore.

Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.