Raiders training camp preview: 5 things to watch
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Raiders are on the move.
For the 22nd straight year, the franchise will spend training camp in Napa, California. Its operations are relocating about 50 miles north to Wine Country for a few weeks, settling at a Marriott hotel adjacent to Redwood Middle School’s practice fields.
This is the only move on which the Raiders’ staffers and players can afford to focus.
Las Vegas is still years away. The first exhibition game, Aug. 12 in Arizona, is fast approaching. And the Sept. 10 season opener against the Titans in Nashville is not far behind.
But Las Vegas can monitor the Raiders closely.
Here are five things to watch:
Injuries
Teams hang a cloak of secrecy over this department.
Soon, to some degree, it will be temporarily lifted.
A number of Raiders players were hurt in the spring. Details were limited on the nature and severity of their ailments; the team exercised its prerogative not to comment. But before the first camp practice on July 29, any player too injured to participate is eligible for placement on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
How healthy, or unhealthy, the Raiders are entering camp will be revealed then.
Defensive end Jihad Ward is one known PUP candidate. He underwent surgery after an apparent left foot injury sidelined him on June 6. Reserve center-guard Jon Feliciano injured his right knee that same day. Neither returned in the spring. Right tackles Marshall Newhouse (undisclosed) and Austin Howard (shoulder injury from 2016) are among the others to have missed significant work in the spring.
Injuries are bound to occur during training camp.
When camp breaks on Aug. 17, the team hopes to leave Napa relatively unscathed.
Position battles
What started in the spring will continue in the summer.
Second-year quarterback Connor Cook and veteran E.J. Manuel will share second-team practice reps behind Derek Carr. The Raiders want to bring along Cook, developing him after he was thrown into the fire as a rookie fourth-round pick in 2016. Cook became the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to make his first career start in a playoff game. How he builds off the experience will help determine if it’s he or the more seasoned Manuel — he has 17 career starts — who serves as Carr’s primary backup.
At right tackle, Howard versus Newhouse arguably is the top camp battle.
That is, if Howard is still on the team.
He carries a $4.9 million salary in 2017 and missed all of the spring. A source said recently that Howard is expected to be physically ready for training camp. The Raiders do not need the cap space they’d save for releasing him, so it’d be a pure cash-clearing move.
Saving cash is saving cash.
Given the team just invested $125 million in its franchise quarterback, it might be beneficial to allow Howard a chance to compete with Newhouse, given he could be the team’s best option to protect Carr in an AFC West division that features some of the league’s premier pass rushers. There certainly is a crowd at right tackle between Newhouse, Howard and rookie fourth-round pick David Sharpe.
New arrivals
Running back Marshawn Lynch. Tight end Jared Cook. Wide receiver/kickoff returner Cordarelle Patterson. Versatile tackle Newhouse.
And that’s just on offense.
The Raiders added plenty of talent this offseason, leaning toward more experienced players on offense and more youth on defense from their draft class. How it all comes together will become increasingly clear during camp, as roles are earned and players acclimate into their new system.
Lynch is the headliner. The Oakland native saw limited action in the spring, the team slowly working him into the fold. But coaches saw enough to reinforce their expectation that Lynch will lead their backfield in carries.
They plan to monitor his workload throughout July and August to save his body for the toll that starts in September. Lynch, 31, missed all of 2016 because of retirement.
The Raiders, in order, drafted cornerback Gareon Conley, safety Obi Melifonwu and defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes across the first three rounds in April. All will be asked to contribute immediately, be it in sub-packages or special teams at minimum. Inside linebacker Marquel Lee, a fifth-round pick, will fight for reps at a position the Raiders are actively looking to upgrade, be it via free agency or trade.
Defensive line
Khalil Mack is the known commodity, the superstar, the one who keeps coordinators and offensive tackles up at night.
He cannot do it alone. Mack was the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year in 2016. And yet, the Raiders ranked last in the NFL with 25 sacks. The team knows it must generate more pressure from more angles this year. Perhaps in training camp, someone will emerge.
Defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. is a good first place to look. The former second-round pick is entering his third NFL season after missing nearly all of 2016 to an August hip injury. When healthy, he has the talent to punish teams for double- or triple-teaming Mack. Sacks are an imperfect stat to depict how disruptive a player is; Mack had a modest 11 sacks in a banner year. But Edwards is due to build off his two-sack total from 16 career games.
With 7½, outside linebacker Bruce Irvin was the only other Raiders player with at least three sacks in 2016.
Vanderdoes is a notable wild card. He was drafted with the hope he’ll quickly develop into an interior pass rusher. UCLA’s academic schedule forced him to miss every OTA and June minicamp practice, so there was little way to track his progress. The first practice of camp for the Raiders will double as Vanderdoes’ first time alongside NFL veterans.
All that noise
Las Vegas this, Las Vegas that. Super Bowl predictions printed on glossy magazine covers. A heightened stack of interview requests from national media. Chatter over them possibly being the ones to dethrone the New England Patriots’ dynasty.
It’s getting loud in here.
Distractions, if they allow, will find them. This franchise is coming off a 12-4 campaign and owns a breadth of star-studded talent. It’s full of made-for-media storylines, be it the return of Lynch from retirement, the return of Carr from injury or the impending relocation across from the Strip.
None of this is more important than the 2017 season.
It shouldn’t be a problem, given Jack Del Rio’s pulse of his locker room and the leadership within it. Carr, Mack and wide receiver Amari Cooper are part of a young core with a good grasp of how little they’ve accomplished and the opportunity that lies ahead to change that. Still, this camp represents an opportunity to keep the 2017 focus on football.
A Napa retreat should serve the Raiders well.
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.
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