As training camp practices inch closer, the Las Vegas Raiders are facing no shortage of questions. But last week, they shored up the financial side of things when both Fernando Mendoza and Jermod McCoy inked their rookie deals. So, with everyone now under contract, it is all about football.
And among the biggest curiosities of the fanbase through an on-field lens is the health and status of several notable players, namely McCoy, Maxx Crosby and Nakobe Dean, all three of whom missed either the majority or entirety of the offseason program for the Silver and Black.
Of course, when practices begin, more queries will take shape as the positional battles unfold. But for now, John Spytek and Klint Kubiak answered the only question that they could, which was about the health of the team. And it is as perfect as a slew of updates can be for a team like the Raiders.
Las Vegas Raiders' brass confirms team has no injuries before training camp
Earlier this week, Spytek spoke with Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, and he touched on the importance of having everyone signed before camp so that football alone can take center stage. Although Spytek noted how complicated contracts can be, it was more important to limit distractions.
Spytek continued with some promising hype for the team's new-look roster, and he praised the job that the team did collectively this offseason. Then, he got into the nuts and bolts about the injury status of the team, and it sounds like Las Vegas is, at least for now, completely healthy.
"We didn’t have anybody on the PUP or NFI [non-football injury list] or any of it, at least with the guys returning from injury," Spytek said. "And I don’t have any expectations on Tuesday when the rest of the group gets here that we’ll have that. I think we’re gonna have 91 guys on the grass.”
Kubiak echoed that sentiment during his media availability on Tuesday.
"Everyone's going to be practicing tomorrow, yep," Kubiak said.
Naturally, this prompted questions about both McCoy and Crosby individually. McCoy was seemingly healthy enough to practice during the spring, but as the Raiders continued to evaluate his knee and its long-term prognosis, they had him on a pitch count.
But that won't be the case at camp.
"The plan is to get him reps early," Kubiak said. "See how he responds in his recovery. It is a moving target with him; he's a guy that's worked extremely hard and has been dedicated to the program that we've put in front of him. But Jermod hasn't played football in a year, and we're aware of that. But he's ready to go practice tomorrow. And we're also going to be really smart with him and develop him the right way."
Crosby was initially thought to be full-go at camp, but he later clarified that he may be limited to begin practices. However, it doesn't sound like Kubiak got that memo, or maybe things changed. But the Raiders' head coach is expecting Crosby to be out there in full capacity come Wednesday.
"He's going to get all the reps tomorrow with the 1s," Kubiak said. "He's ready to go. He's ready to practice. Again, as practice unfolds and we're watching our players, it's always a moving target. But as of right now, tomorrow is a pretty short work day, hour and thirty minutes, so we're expecting him to be ready to take all those reps."
Enough said.
It makes sense that Kubiak and the staff, as well as the trainers and strength coaches, would closely monitor players coming off an injury. But it's even better that the group feels comfortable trotting these players out there for intense practices as soon as Day 1.
Nobody asked about Dean's availability in particular, even though his absence was the elephant in the room during the offseason program. But if everyone is practicing on Wednesday, that includes Dean, so whatever was holding him back must have subsided or not be worth mentioning for the brass.
As far as updates before camp, everyone being under contract and having no holdouts, combined with everyone being healthy, is about as perfect as it gets. The Raiders will obviously hit some obstacles, and things won't stay so flawless for very long.
But it's a great place to start for this new regime in Las Vegas.
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