Raiders P A.J. Cole from Training Camp

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders have opened their 2023 NFL Training Camp, and defensive end Maxx Crosby took to the podium to address the media.

You can watch his entire comments below., and read the transcript:

Punter AJ Cole

Q: We talked in OTAs about adjusting to a new long snapper and field goals. How is that process going?

Cole: "I mean, we're still just trying to get as many reps logged between now and when the season starts. I mean, it's kind of a race to get better at this point in the year. So, being able to go through these couple of weeks here, heading into joint practice and preseason, all those reps are going to be really valuable for us just so that we go into the season as comfortable as possible. But yeah, we're still building that trust, building that chemistry."

Q: Obviously, you have a lot of young guys who are kind of trying to compete for those roles on special teams and kick coverage and things like that. How much energy have you noticed from those guys just the last two days of practice?

Cole: "Yeah, it's a lot of energy. I think we've got a lot of great leadership in the special teams department. I mean, you've got guys like Brandon Bolden going into year 12 who's really made a lot of his bones on special teams. And having guys like him, having guys like Ameer Abdullah, a bunch of other guys, they kind of set the standard. And the energy that they practice with and the effort level they give, they kind of set the tone and then everybody else kind of falls in line, and if you're not hanging with those guys, you can't hang. So yeah, it's going to be awesome to see. I loved our unit last year, and I'm really excited about the pieces we got. I'm excited to see who kind of stands out and what we can do on teams this year."

Q: For a casual fan who wonders -- aside from getting it too quickly in terms of the snap, what else goes into making a good snap, or a good quality snap?

Cole: "I mean, you're looking for the location. You want it to be in same place every time where I'm comfortable catching it at. You want a tight spiral, similar to a receiver trying to catch a ball from the quarterback. You want a tight spiral so it's not moving all over the place, hitting weird parts of your hands. And then on field goals, right, you want the laces out, every time, so that I don't have to spin. I can just put it down and Daniel [Carlson] can see the ball for a long time. So yes, speed, location, accuracy, spiral, all those things. And that's all stuff that we're looking at in our room, grading off of and everything."

Q: There are a lot of new players this year, especially at quarterback. What's the early impression of the new guys coming in so far?

Cole: "I don't really know about the football aspect of it, but as guys everybody's great. Everybody is awesome to be around. I mean, Jimmy [Garoppolo], Brian [Hoyer] and Aidan [O'Connell], they've been great to get to know, I get to talk to all those guys. I can't say enough about the quality of person we have in the locker room. Talking to them in the lunch room, getting to know them in the locker room, weight room, all that stuff. Everybody's awesome. We don't have any divas, we don't have any head cases. We've got a lot of people that are fun to be around, competitive, motivated, but also just regular people."

Q: This is not a facetious question, but could you ever get to a point where you could just close your eyes and get the snap?

Cole: "No, I would say that would be a little risky."

Q: But I mean in terms of precision of where it needs to be and where your hands are?

Cole: "Yeah. I mean, it's a good question. I don't know. Maybe that'd be a fun little drill. I used to do this drill when I was a rookie, where they had these goggles, like swim goggles. And they would take a Sharpie and colored them in so it was like a horse with the blinders on. So it was just like this, so you really have to get your eyes to the right spot. So we would do a bunch of work on the jugs and stuff like that.

"I used to do some crazy drills when I was a rookie. They'd be having me catch and they would throw socks at me and stuff like that, like distraction drills. But I never really went full blindfolded. I don't know about that. Next time Davante [Adams] comes up here, you ask him if he can catch a pass blindfolded, and if he can't, then I can't."

Q: I know you practice your drops a lot, you document them on social media. Where's the weirdest place you practiced drops this offseason?

Cole: "Oh, that's a great question. I've done them in airport terminals before, like had a long layover, like two-, three-hour layover, and just find like an empty little section. I'm just walking back and forth just kind of doing my little drops. That's a good answer. I did them on a boat one time. I mean, you've just got to be creative when you can. Yeah, I would say airport is the worst, because people are looking at you the whole time like: 'What's this guy doing?'

"I was staying at this hotel down in San Diego this summer where I was training and there was a little courtyard, but you don't want to do them in the room because somebody might be in the room below you taking a nap, so you want to be courteous. So it was one of those hotels it's like the little courtyard all the way around. So I was doing it on the balcony and there were families down there having lunch and stuff. People were hanging out and they kept tapping each other like: 'What is that guy doing,' and I'm just doing my little drops."

Q: Follow up on Jimmy Garoppolo since it sounds like you got to know him as a guy a little bit. We had Davante Adams in here, he said he was surprised that he's funnier than people think. Maxx Crosby yesterday said he's more competitive, he was talking trash out at practice. Anything about Jimmy, any interactions you've had that surprised you?

Cole: "Yeah, I mean he's just easy to talk to. He's a very down to earth, normal guy, and we can sit down -like yesterday, me, Jesper [Horsted] and Ameer [Abdullah] were sitting there and we were talking about aliens -- you've seen all this UFO stuff that they're talking about. We were discussing that, just kind of getting everybody's thoughts and he just sits down like: 'Oh what are you guys talking about? Aliens. Oh yeah, I've got a couple thoughts.' I don't want to tell you anybody's personal opinions on aliens, that's kind of like a private matter I would say, but yeah he was fully participating in the conversations. He was like: 'Yeah, let's go. Let's talk about this.'"

The Silver and Black open the preseason by hosting the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Aug. 13, at 4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT.

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