Podcast: What We Know About the Raiders No. 3

The Raiders are on the fast track to NFL training camp in less than five weeks, and we can confidently state some facts about the franchise.

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast episode features part three of a five-part series on the facts surrounding the Silver and Black.

You can watch the entire podcast below:

Pete Carroll has been a steady force since landing in the desert, and things on the Silver and Black horizon are bright.

Coach Carroll spoke after the final mandatory minicamp practice and delivered some incredibly insightful information.

You can read a partial transcript of all he said below.

Head Coach Pete Carroll

Q: Obviously you guys can't put on pads yet, so you're kind of limited and you can't really, truly block with offensive linemen. But what's been the focus for that group? And how much growth have you seen on the O-line?

Coach Carroll: "They done a really solid job, really worked on their technique, really working on the things that you can work on. You can't work on the physical part of it as much as you would like other than sleds and bags and stuff like that. But BC [Brennan Carroll] has done a really nice job of getting all these guys to look uniformed. They step really well. Their hand placement is really good. Communication seems to be sharp. You know, Chip's [Kelly] got a really in depth, busy plan that we asked these guys to embrace. Fortunately, Geno [Smith] is kind of the run coordinator on the field, and he changes the things and does the things that we need to do. All of that has worked together really well. So, it looks like a good, solid group. We have good leadership. It was great to get Kolton [Miller] out there and be part of it. Saw a lot out of DJ glaze. I thought he'd had a really, really good offseason with us. He looks like he's ready to go. He’s a second-year guy, and guys go from year one to year two and they have the ability to make a big jump, because they're through the rookie haze, and he's shown that. So, it looks like a good, solid group. It’s very competitive and we feel like we have some depth and going into camp is really when we'll know what's happening. My favorite guy out there to watch is Laki Tasi. He knows nothing about football when he walked in the door and he's made tremendous progress, and he's enormous. He's the biggest guy you ever saw. I think he weighed in at weigh-ins the other day at 369. He's learning and we got to keep an eye on him. It's an exciting process. I don't know how long it's going to take, but he's starting from ground zero, and he's made a lot of progress so far.”

Q: We just heard from Raheem Mostert, and it sounds like there's a lot of optimism about turning what was the league's worst rushing attack into one of the leagues better ones, especially given that you love to run the rock and Chip Kelly has had a documented success of doing so. Over the recent weeks, have you guys figured out how you're going to maybe divvy up the workload between [Ashton] Jeanty and Mostert?

Coach Carroll: “They're going to show us that when they get the chance to compete. I love having multiple guys play. I'm not relying on one guy. Thunder and lightning back in the day, you know, whatever it takes to get it done. So, we're going to let the guys play for their play time. Raheem, I love having him. He's an experienced guy that's been a great speedster for years. We've defended him for years. He's been a real nightmare for us. And I think Zamir [White] had a really, really good camp too. He made a statement of being the bigger of the guys. He's really fast and he's the biggest guy that we have. Ashton looks every bit what we had hoped he would look like. He caught the ball really well. He understood stuff, took everything really seriously, gave terrific effort throughout. We made a big deal to him. Everybody's watching you, and he embraced the thought of it. And so, it's going to be really exciting to see what happens. We got Sincere [McCormick] back too late in the camp period here. He had a couple really nice games last year, and he showed really good quickness and kind of a knack for running the ball. So, when we go to camp it'll just be game on, and we'll see what happens.”

Q: How satisfied you are with the roster construction? And, would you be looking in to outside options for more competition during training camp?

Coach Carroll: “You’re either competing or you're not. We ain’t letting up now. You saw that we just signed a guy, or got a guy committed yesterday, and we're going to keep working it. There's no time to turn away from having a chance to get a little bit better. So, we'll be on it.”

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