Training Camp Day 9: Unlikely Raiders drawing praise ahead of preseason

Notes from Camp

Today was a bit of a slower day, which is expected for a team that essentially played a game this past Saturday night. According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, Antonio Pierce elected to keep the pads off today and focus more on the basics, giving the team another day to recover before putting their bodies on the line during this Saturday's preseason bout against the Minnesota Vikings.

Jack Jones continues to find more and more ways to contribute to the Silver and Black. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown during the team scrimmage last Saturday, and although he denied it in a previous interview, Jones was out on the field today working as the kickoff specialist. A handful of teams are considering employing this strategy due to the kickoff rule changes.

Unfortunately, just as the quarterback situation started to clear up, it got murky again on Monday. Head coach Antonio Pierce has preached consistency this offseason, and just when it seemed like Minshew was "taking the bull by the horns," as Pierce would say, his grip started to loosen.

O'Connell, however, appeared to have one of his better days of camp thus far. He found UDFA Ramel Keyton for a long touchdown today just hours after Pierce promoted him to the second team.

O'Connell continued to impress later in practice as he found Kristian Wilkerson in a tight window for a big gain.

Tafur also mentioned that both Jakobi Meyers and Michael Mayer made big plays in the one-on-one drills, but Tucker had yet another drop.

After all of the hype surrounding Glaze these past few days, Levi Damien of The Raiders Wire noted that Thayer Munford Jr. was back working with the first team today. Maxx Crosby, however, continued to cause problems for the entire offensive line group as they, like many other lines, have no answer for The Condor.

Damien also detailed more specific plays from Day 9 of training camp, and it sounds like Crosby and Jakorian Bennett were among the top performers. From his view, despite some struggles, Minshew still outperformed O'Connell as he led the only touchdown drive of the day on a pass to Dylan Laube.

Unfortunately, the first serious on-field injury of camp occurred today on the practice field. UDFA WR Jeff Foreman had a scary landing as he laid out to try and catch a pass. Hopefully, he avoided a major injury.

Another fun thing from camp today was that baseball legend Reggie Jackson was in attendance at camp today. The first-ballot baseball Hall of Famer, nicknamed Mr. October, made sure to snag a picture with another legend in the making:

Players' Perspective

Coincidentally, three of the players who Pierce raved about Monday morning during his media availability took the podium to speak after practice: DJ Turner, Decamerion Richardson, and Kristian Wilkerson.

Richardson is embracing the learning curve that the NFL brings and seems focused more on his own improvement than where he stands currently in the pecking order. Pierce hinted that Richardson could be a dynamic player for Las Vegas on special teams, which likely stems from his experience in this phase of the ball. Richardson asserted that he played special teams in college because he was willing to play "wherever the team needs me." This sentiment is incredibly important for a rookie to grasp onto, especially one that is (hopefully) not needed on Day 1 as a starter.

Wilkerson is adopting a similar approach, as he gave the impression that he is putting his head down and working instead of concerning himself with his status on the roster. He will be on the fringe of the 53-man squad that the Raiders will employ in Week 1 against the Chargers, so he is trying in a way to "pop out on film" but is more focused on "making every play that comes [his] way." Wilkerson also spoke positively of the offensive design, stating that he "loves the offense" because it allows the guys in the room to be playmakers.

Turner made a goal for himself to be more involved on the offensive side of things this season, and he believes he had made progress in this realm during the preseason. When asked about his special teams prowess last season, Turner noted that when he joined the Silver and Black, the offense was already established. He worked so hard on special teams because he wanted to make an impact, stating that he "had to do what [he] had to do" to get on the field. This helped him "play with confidence" and now he is "trying to let that roll over into this season."

He also feels like "the sky is the limit" for himself in the new offense. He has been moved around a lot as far as alignment and he has benefitted from playing in an offense that encourages him to be a playmaker. Turner has also worked as a kick returner and is excited about the new kickoff rules. He praised special teams coach Tom McMahon and seems poised to make an impact in multiple facets of the game for the Raiders this season.