Podcast: Scouting the Raiders Defensive End Group

The Las Vegas Raiders are fortunate to be led by Pete Carroll, but one of the National Football League’s elite defensive line coaches in Rob Leonard.

The Raiders are fortunate to have the best defensive end in all of the NFL in Maxx Crosby, and a potential elite bookend to Crosby in Malcolm Koonce.

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast episode examines the defensive end room and the depth and talent that Leonard has to lead.

You can watch the entire podcast below:

Pete Carroll spoke after practice as the team is enjoying OTAs, and below we have a partial transcript of all that he said:

Head Coach Pete Carroll

Opening Statement: Coach Carroll: "Before you ask me any questions, we're in the middle of phase three. Now we've finally got a chance where we're working offense/defense, and it's taken us some time to get to this point. We've made a lot of good strides, but now it's obvious how important it is that we work against one another. The way we practice will make us, so we're off to a really good start. Guys are having fun and we're working hard, and we're learning a bunch every day."

Q: Speaking of the way you practice, you talked about your year off, how much football you took in and took in new ideas. Does that kind of reflect - are you doing anything different philosophically practice wise, or is this picking up where you left off?

Coach Carroll: "There are subtle things that we're doing. We're changing some of the formats and how we break down the periods and the breaks that we're taking and some of those things. It's way more subtle than obvious. But yeah, there's a lot of things and it has to do with how we're organizing practice to a certain degree."

Q: Where is Christian Wilkins at his recovery process?

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, this has been difficult recovery and he's done everything he needs to do. He's been here every day. He's here early, working hard, but we're still working it, and he's not ready to get back out. And we're in the midst of a long, challenging process here. So, fortunately there's a lot of time, and we're going to take every bit of it. We've really tried to be really diligent about the way we've worked it and the way we've monitored it and all of that, and he's really been on board the whole time. But it has been challenging."

Q: Are you enjoying the Vegas heat? What do you think?

Coach Carroll: "I didn't think this was hot yet. Yeah, so I'm not complaining about the heat at all."

Q: Seems to be a lot of energy with this group. How do you instill that in this group, and how does that help kind of build camaraderie?

Coach Carroll: "Well, they've been challenged from the moment we got here that we control the attitude. We control what we bring every day. And so in that challenge, if you want to be really good, you've got to work your tail off, and you've got to bring your energy and bring your juice. That's the way they have opportunities to express what kind of a teammate they are. And so, they've been called on and you can see the result of it. They're really working with the kind of fire and energy that we expect."

Q: How did Maxx Crosby look to you?

Coach Carroll: "Maxx looks great. He's going full speed 100%."

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