Answering Your Raiders, NFL Questions

Henderson, Nev.--There is no fan base in the National Football League hungrier for information on their team than the Raider Nation. That is why each week, we offer a buffet of Silver and Black information as we answer your questions and emails as it pertains to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Hondo, what is the word out of the OTAs on maybe some rookies that are making noise? Super excited about this season. Thank you for all the great information. --Dan Rios

One name is Darius Stills, the undrafted rookie free agent out of West Virginia. Last month, you may remember that we projected him to make the 53-man roster before he had done anything. That article was controversial at the time, but we had heard a lot about him from inside the organization.

Here is what Clelin Ferrell said about Stills at camp last week, "I don’t really evaluate guys until we put the pads on, but a guy who I like a lot is Darius Stills, an undrafted rookie from West Virginia. Real, real good dude but he got a lot of twitch. He played three-technique. He got a lot of twitch. You can just tell in the movements when we on drills and stuff like that. He got a little something to him, so I like his game a little bit.”

Hondo, what are your thoughts about the Raiders keeping training camp in Henderson again this year? --Clinton Rowe

I understand why they are doing it. As things open up and get back to normal, I get why they don’t want to extend too far, not knowing what the future holds. I am 100 percent confident Mark Davis wants to get the Raiders out to as much of the Silver and Black as possible, so I wouldn’t assume that will be the case forever.

Hondo, I love your work. Thank you so much. Were you shocked that the players decided to go to the workouts after saying no? --Kait P.

I wasn’t at all. I think Richie Incognito, the terrific offensive lineman said it best. “I think it’s a competitive advantage for us to be here working right now. We’re a young team, we’re learning a new defense. Offense, we’re trying to sharpen our tools to be more productive, put up more points, put more pressure on teams, and it’s just great. It’s great for team building, great to be around the guys. Coach Gruden is taking good care of us as far as walk-throughs and keeping things down tempo, but it was important for us. The offseason kind of started off with the NFLPA and their agenda and we released a statement, but a couple days later we came together, and we were like, 'Listen, other teams are working, we are at a competitive disadvantage if we’re not working. Let’s get our asses back there and get to work.'”

Hondo, this may sound dumb. What does OTA mean? --Kyle Bennett

That isn’t dumb at all, Kyle. It means Optional Team Activities. The players can’t be mandated to be there; it is optional.

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