Carr, Oakland Raiders wideouts get together for pre-camp prep

Jun 9, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) with fullbacks Marcel Reece (45) and Jamize Olawale (49) and running back Latavius Murray (28) at minicamp at the Raiders practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Derek Carr’s reputation for being a hard worker is already growing just two offseasons into his NFL career with the Oakland Raiders. From the well documented stories of him arriving at the facilities before the coaches at times to his work programs in the summer in addition to his work with California quarterbacks at his Carr Elite camps with his brothers, the Raiders starter is always around football trying to get better. Something that extended to his wide receivers recently as Carr and the Oakland wideouts got together for a few passing sessions in Bakersfield according to Scott Bair of CSN Bay Area.

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With Carr missing most of OTAs with a finger injury in his throwing hand, the quarterback invited his receivers to his Carr Elite training facility in Bakersfield for a two day ‘minicamp’ last Thursday and Friday in an attempt to get back to full speed with one another before 2015 Training Camp opens at the end of the month. A list of many of the expected wideouts to make the team coming to Bakersfield to get some work in with their quarterback along with David Carr who threw some passes in the sessions as well to give the receivers as many reps as possible according to Bair.

Michael Crabtree, Mychal Rivera, Brice Butler, Rod Streater, Seth Roberts, Josh Harper, Kenbrell Thompkins and Andre Holmes were the wideouts who took the time to visit the Carr Elite HQ for some extra work. The only notable absence being Amari Cooper (who worked out with Carr in the offseason one-on-one earlier) who is set to be the team’s #1 target as a rookie after being selected fourth overall, but the core group being there had Carr excited to get together as a team in the final days of the offseason.

“The offseason is when you really become a team,” Carr told CSN Bay Area on Saturday. “The more you can get together at someone’s house, or even out here in Bakersfield, shows the commitment everyone has to turning things around.”

“It was important to get the timing of the routes down, especially for new guys and guys coming off injuries from last year. Any extra time is crucial, and we wanted to take full advantage of it.”

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Carr added to CSN that he feels that the time spent in Bakersfield will help avoid any wasted camp time being spent on adjusting back to quarterback and receiver timing thanks to the work that got put in on an individual basis away from the team over the summer.

“It was a great refresher for everyone, and the timing couldn’t have been better,” Carr said. “It was two weeks before camp and just far enough away from the last minicamp for guys to find it useful. It was a refresher course that should really help the start of training camp itself. This way, the mistakes won’t happen on day No. 1. We already fixed that stuff.”

The Raiders are set to open up practices on July 31, with Carr expecting a hard working team to get better after putting in the work this offseason. Rebuilding projects don’t finish without everyone in an organization buying in and it appears that the Raiders quarterback is the perfect leader to make sure that the work gets done to bring this Oakland team to a higher level than in the past decade. Summer days spent putting the time in paying off on Sundays in the fall when it is time to make the plays that separate teams from winning and losing.

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