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Raiders’ Tyler Hall: From the practice squad to the spotlight

For more than a little while, Tyler Hall had been giving the Raiders’ offense the business during practice. Or, as Raiders coach Josh McDaniels put it: “He’s given us fits.”

The recently signed practice squad player wasn’t trying to show anyone up, mind you. But three years into an NFL career in which the former undrafted free agent cornerback from Wyoming was waived or released six times and juggled between the active and practice squads on a handful of occasions between three different teams, he was just trying to make his mark.

The Raiders had signed Hall to their practice squad in early October, or about a month after the Rams, for whom he appeared in four games in 2021, released him. The Rams had signed Hall in August of that year after he had spent the previous year-and-a-half riding a nearly never-ending elevator ride between the Falcons’ regular and practice squad rosters and, frankly, the waiver wire.

All Hall ever wanted was a legitimate chance, and upon landing in Las Vegas he was determined to create one for himself.

The plan was simple, if not brilliant. Just show up every day and diligently do exactly as he was told. And whenever he got a chance to shine on the practice field, seize it.

“Taking it day by day, when your opportunity is called, use everything you learned and use it on the field,” Hall said.

The Raiders views their practice squad as a viable extension of their 53-man roster. They not only prep their practice players as if they might actually play on Sunday, they actually encourage them to prepare and dream as if they will.

Into that environment stepped Hall last month upon inking a deal with the Raiders,

Which brings us back to the business he had been giving the Raiders’ offense during practice recently, and the eyes it opened and the opportunity it created.

As Hall put it, he approached every practice, every film study and every meeting as if he was going to start the following Sunday. It wasn’t out of arrogance, but rather an acknowledgment that earning a bigger role meant doing nothing less.

Just as importantly, what good would an opportunity earned be if he was wasn’t physically and mentally prepared to seize it?

“Approaching it as if I’m getting preparing for a game” is how he explained it. “No matter if it’s the practice squad or preparing for a game, football is football. I’ve always got the same mentality going on the field, to dominate.”

It didn’t take long for Hall to catch the eye of some important decision-makers.

“He’s been diligent. He’s working hard in terms of studying, all the extra time studying,” said Graham. “His skill set: he’s sticky in coverage, he has physicality.”

All of which earned him a spot on the active roster last Sunday after being elevated from the practice squad just one day before. Hall had an inkling it might happen after the Raiders rotated him into the game plan during practice that week. His response was simply more of the same.

“Prepare as if I was a starter, so if my name did get called, which it did, I was ready to go,” said Hall, who was not listed on the printed game roster.

Despite that, Hall was certainly ready. As the game wore on, the more time he got. He ended up appearing in 18 defensive snaps and recorded three tackles and a key sack of Russell Wilson.

On his chase down of Wilson, Hall relied on the very thing that earned him the opportunity in the first place

“Preparation,” he said. “Just going through my keys, reading my keys, and just doing whatever I could do to help my team win.”

An appreciative Graham saw even deeper into the contribution.

“I know statistically, everybody wants to talk about the sack. But the play that stuck out the most to me was the two-yard gain on the run when he filled in the B-gap,” Ziegler said. “That’s what we look for in terms of Dave and Josh as they put the roster together; defensive backs who are tough, physical and could tackle. That showed up from him, and it was encouraging to see.”

And it may have earned Hall more playing time.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.

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