Raiders' OL Coach James Cregg Instilling Confidence in the Office Linemen

The Las Vegas Raiders have a new offensive line coach, James Cregg, who joined the team after most recently spending time with the San Francisco 49ers.

Cregg has many years of experience as an offensive line coach in the National Football League and at the collegiate level. He is set to begin his second tenure with the Raiders’ organization, this time as the team’s primary offensive line coach instead of the assistant offensive line coach like last time.

While the Raiders may have a new offensive line coach in Cregg, they return many of the same faces to the offensive line from last season. Offensive lineman Thayer Munford is expected to start for the team’s starting right tackle position this season after the departure of Jermaine Eluemunor in free agency.

Although Munford often played for the Raiders last season, including starting over half the team’s games last season, as he enters his third season in the league, it will be the first time the Raiders have had to depend mainly on him at the right tackle position for an entire season. Munford can play on both sides of the offensive line but is more comfortable on the left side.

However, the Raiders have one of the top left tackles in the NFL, Kolton Miller. Cregg said he plans on helping build Munford’s confidence over time and believes Munforf practicing against Maxx Crosby daily will help.

"Going against Maxx Crosby every day at practice, that'll help him quite a bit,” Cregg said on Wednesday. “You don't get a better player than him. So, that's going to lead into his confidence, and he is getting confident by going against him every day. Obviously, we're not at full speed and doing all that stuff, and Maxx can have his way just about anybody in the league, in my opinion, but going against him every day is really developing and shaping up his confidence."

While going against Crosby could discourage some offensive linemen, Cregg believes a vital part of building a player’s confidence is pointing out their small wins against top-tier competition. Cregg said a coaching staff should help players struggling with their confidence.

"You don't, just get little wins and capitalize on the wins and just point those out to him when he does win and give him that confidence and show it to him and show him that the technique works and show him and keep proving to him.

“You've got to keep proving it to him and showing him, and you've got to keep working with it. You got to keep it ingrained in his head. And obviously, like in a game scenario, if a guy does struggle, you've got to help him out, give him a rope, and let him get out and figure out a way to help the young man if he is struggling and give him that confidence. You've got to find a way to give guys confidence in some aspect or another."

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