Raiders' A.J.Cole Entire OTA Presser
HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders have concluded their second OTA session of the offseason.
The Raiders are fortunate to have one of the best punters in the National Football League in A.J. Cole, and we have his entire post-practice press conference for you.
You can watch the entire video below, and read the transcript"
Punter AJ Cole
Q: Adjusting to a new long snapper - this time of year what can you guys do? How much work are you doing, and how much different is it?
AJ Cole: "I mean yeah, it's still coming from an upside-down human being, so that part's the same. There's just a lot of reps we've got to get in, time to catch up, but that's what this time of year is for. I mean, the quarterbacks, the receivers, the O-line, D-line, everybody's going through the same thing right now. So, this time of year sort of just a race to get better. So, it's just between now and September - whenever our first game is - is how many reps can we get together and how much trust can we have in each other by the time we hit that first field, the time it counts."
Q: Is it a trickier process as a punter or as a holder?
Cole: "Good question. I think it's probably about the same. I mean, he's left-handed, so it's spinning the opposite way, but besides that, it's still a long snap, it's still the same deal. So, after like the first practice of getting used to it spinning the other way, it's kind of the same deal."
Q: I know this is more of a Daniel [Carlson] kind of a question but as a fellow special teams player and somebody that uses your foot to make an impact on the game. The rule change that they had with fair catch on the kickoffs, where do you fall on that? It just seems like it's taken some strategy out of the game, maybe needlessly so rewarding a team 24 yards for somebody else doing their job. Where do you fall on that?
Cole: "Yeah, I mean I think a lot of people they're kind of unsure how teams are going to play it. It's going to be interesting to see how it gets used, how it gets played. I think it might add another wrinkle to the game that could make things a little bit more strategic. There's going to be just some different - and I think it's going to be interesting to because how much are teams going to show their hand and preseason. There's just a lot of different factors. So, I don't know from a strategy perspective, that's not really my expertise necessarily. I think sort of it's one of those things where I don't get to make the rules, I've just got to play by them. So, just sort of not much you can do really."
Q: How much punting are you doing this time of year?
Cole: "Yeah, so I'd say this time of year I'm trying to get in three to four days out of the week, probably like seven days every two weeks. And every time I go out, I'm probably kicking between 50 and 70 balls. This time of year is sort of an opportunity to like try stuff, tinker with stuff. During the season you kind of have these like - I guess I call them like intrusive thoughts where your like, 'What if I tried to do this,' or 'What if I tried to do that,' but it's like, oh we have a game and like 15 minutes I probably shouldn't try that. So, the offseason is like the time to kind of like let those thoughts win a little bit and kind of \mess around with stuff and see if there's little gaps in areas you can get better. And then it's kind of nice too, because you try those things and you're like, 'Oh yeah, that definitely doesn't work, don't do that in a game.' So, kind of an opportunity to experiment and just sort of see what all you can get out of it. See how much you can maximize your potential."
Q: Things that maybe do work out pretty well in practice, what's that conversation like with either your special teams coach or whoever the coach might be? Is that, 'Hey, by the way I was just working on something. I wanted to come talk to you about maybe implementing it.'
Cole: "So, you know when you're a kid and you're shooting hoops in the backyard or whatever and you make like three or four in a row and you go get your dad, and you're like, 'Dad come out here, I want to show you something,' and then you miss like three in a row. That's kind of like how it goes a little bit. So, if it's like, 'Hey, I wanted to try this and then Dad shows up and then you miss three in a row. It's like don't shoot those ever again. So yeah, you kind of bring it to him or bring whatever ideas you have - some of it's technical stuff. Some of it's just like how you hold the ball, your steps, your tempo, some of that is like stuff that you kind of can do on your own. But yeah, that's pretty much how it goes."
Q: Obviously, you and Daniel [Carlson] are trying to get adjusted to Jacob [Bobenmoyer] on the field as a new long snapper. But just outside of the field, just your relationship personally how has that developing between you three?
Cole: "Yeah, I mean we spend a lot of time together, right. Like, everybody else is doing their own thing and it's usually just us three on the field closest to you guys. So, we spend a lot of time together, we eat breakfast together, we eat lunch together. So yeah, just getting to know him, getting to learn about who he is, where he's from, all those things. And I think that's really important. I'm a big believer in camaraderie, vibes, all that, and I think that translates to on field production. So, we're trying to get to know each other, and we're trying to just build as much chemistry as we can."
Q: With that being said, how surprising was it to lose Trent [Sieg] in the offseason? Cole: "Yeah, good question. I mean, there's the human aspect of it. Trent [Sieg] is a great friend, I lived with Trent, Trent was a groomsman in my wedding. So, it's a person you miss, it's a person you care about. So, when you get the news, it's something that you realize like, 'Oh, I'm not going to sit next to him on the plane anymore. I'm not going to have coffee with him every morning.' So there's the on-field part of it, which is he's a great long snapper, he's a great player. And then there's the human part of it too which in a lot of ways hurts worse. But I'm excited that he got an opportunity in Dallas. I think it's a great place for him, and I'm excited to see what he does with the rest of his career."
OTA Offseason workouts: June 12-15
Mandatory Minicamp: June 6-8
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