The Raiders Continue to Get Newest Additions Up to Speed

The Las Vegas Raiders had one of the most productive offseasons of any team in the National Football League. They are already hard at work implementing changes on the field.

Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

The Las Vegas Raiders entered the offseason in desperate need of additional talent at their skill positions. The Raiders had talented players, but as a whole, they needed improvements at wide receiver and running back. John Spytek immdiately addressed both positions in the NFL Draft.

Spytek and the Raiders used free agency largely to fill their defense with servicable and affordable veteran options. They used the NFL Draft to revamp their offense with primarily young talent that should be on the roster for many years.

The Raiders added running back Ashton Jeanty, and wide receivers Jack Bech and Dont'e Thornton in the early rounds of this year's draft, investing their best draft capital on the offensive side of the ball.

Trading away a pick earlier in the offseason to land Geno Smith was another investment of draft capital in the offensive side of the ball. Following Organized Team Activities, Raiders Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly gave an update on how the Raiders' newest additions are progressing.

"They're learning, and I think Dont'e is unique in terms of he's just a hair under 6-5 and he ran 4.3. There's not a lot of humans on this planet that do that. And I think if you had a draw up an outside receiver, you would pick that type of body type, someone that's got length, someone that's got a huge catch radius, but also has speed. Sometimes you can get a big guy like that, but he can't really run, so they can stay with him. So, you add that speed element to him, his ability to sink his hips, his ability to get in and out of cuts," Kelly said.

"But for all of those guys, they're all learning a new system. So, some of them came from - I think Ashton was probably fortunate coming from Dirk [Koetter]'s system at Boise, because it's a little bit more pro-friendly. Some other guys are playing up tempo, throwing the ball all over one word calls and going, and so everybody's on a different level when they come in, and it's just a matter of them getting acclimated. And Chris Beatty is doing a great job with those guys, but they've both shown that they're good players, and we'll continue to see how they go."

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