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Raiders' Josh McDaniels Entire Mini-Camp Comments

The Las Vegas Raiders Josh McDaniels spoke today before the Silver and Black's first mandatory mini-camp practice, and we have it all for you.

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders Josh McDaniels took to the podium today to discuss the state of the Silver and Black.

In his usual fashion, McDaniels spoke bluntly on a myriad of subjects, and we have the press conference in its entirety for you to listen to below, and you can read the transcript:

 Head Coach Josh McDaniels 

Q: In talking to a couple of your players, they've mentioned a difference in OTAs. I'd like to ask if it's a change in philosophy or if you couldn't do it just last year because you're installing a new system. But they said it's very clear to them your staff did a lot of self-scouting and had been teaching very detailed things and they're making changes in techniques, and they seem to love it. They're bragging about your coaches. As a coach, can you do anything better than get a roster full of guys that want to be coached and your coaches are doing it? 

McDaniels: "It'd be hard. I mean, the reality is all of us can do better, starting with me. There's never been a season that you go through where you don't evaluate what you did and realize that there were some mistakes that you made and a lot of things that you can do better. And our game is, I would say, evolving every year, so if you don't evolve with it, sometimes you can just get run over. If you just stay stagnant and stay committed to something that may have worked seven, 10, 12 years ago, it might not necessarily be the best thing to do anymore. I think there's certain techniques and fundamentals that will always be important and probably will always remain the same, but I know that our staff, we challenged ourselves in the spring when the players were away to really just go back and look at the things we did, the way we taught it, the pace that we implemented it at, the drills we were doing to try to get the things we wanted them to learn to stick. And I think the staff deserves the credit for that. They've done a good job of really trying to identify the right pace we should go at, the right volume that we should put in, and then the right ways to go about teaching those things. We've definitely adjusted some things, I'm sure that we're not unique in that regard. I'm sure every other team is doing something similar, but there's definitely a change that we've tried to implement for the better. And if our players are saying the right things in that regard, it's not because we're telling them to. I hope that is what they feel, because it's better for them." 

Q: Up until this point you guys have been involved in OTAs. Is it tangibly different these next three days compared to what you guys have been done? 

McDaniels: "Not really. I think the difference is we have a little bit more time. So, we're actually going to get the watch the film in the afternoon. If you ask me the biggest difference between minicamp and OTAs now, you're allotted a little bit more time on the field. We're not taking a lot more than what we've been doing, but the biggest thing for us is we'll be able to correct the film today. That's the biggest change. OTAs is a little bit of a challenge in that regard, because I'd say most of the days of the year you're actually going through the workday and whatever you're doing then you watch that film afterward correct it and try to move on and have a clean slate the next day. OTAs isn't always that way because of the time limits that we have. So, that's a good thing for everybody so that we can start hopefully fresh tomorrow and just start on the new material, whatever it is, and get going. A little bit more time to watch the film. Today happens to be the red zone; we're going to end up working a little bit more in the red zone. But other than that, the practice format is very similar."  

Q: You mentioned pace earlier. How much different or how much more of a pace do you have from drill to drill now that it's year two for you and a lot of the returners? Coach McDaniels: "I think the guys - coaches and players - I think we all kind of know how we want to practice and work. We know the value of trying to get every ounce of work done that were allotted in terms of the time limits that we have. So, the guys do a great job of moving them from drill to drill. The players have really done a nice job of getting the drill set up so we can go ahead and start the repetitions and try to get better. So, your second year, your second go around you kind of know more, understand more, and then there's a lot more players now that can help other players because they've lived through it for a year, year and a half. So, hopefully it's an efficient practice." 

Q: I understand when guys aren't in pads and they're rookies you can't make any evaluation, but I'd like to ask you about a UDFA, Drake Thomas. What is it about him you like? What have you seen so far as far as mentally picking up the game? 

Coach McDaniels: "Loves football, works hard. And again, if you come into the league in that capacity, which he did - and we have, like I said, we have a number of players - half our roster is undrafted. So those players understand like, 'I've got to work my butt off. I've got to really love every aspect of the game so I can try to improve.' Every rep he takes is a very intentional rep for him, whether it's in an individual period, a group period or team period. Good communicator, learns quickly, really studies hard from one day to the next so he's prepared the next day and a good teammate. You can tell the guys like him. So look, everybody we always tell them, 'They're all the same once they're Raiders.' So it's not really about how you got here, it's what you do here, so Drake [Thomas] has really embraced that along with a lot of the other guys that we have in that capacity, but there's a lot to like about him. He's a good football player, period. You know what I mean? If you look at how tall he is and all the rest of it, you can say a lot about a lot of guys in that capacity. But at the end of the day, when the ball snapped he does a good job of making plays and doing his job." 

Q: In the grand scheme of things how happy or pleased are you with your players' progress from OTAs going into mandatory minicamp? 

Coach McDaniels: "I like like the way we work. Again, this isn't necessarily the time for us to stop and evaluate where we're at. We have so far to go in terms of progress individually, collectively as a team that we really don't worry a whole lot about that at this point because again, we're not in pads. It's a whole different component to the game that we're going to get involved with here at the end of July. So, like the way they're working, love the attitude they bring every day to work. I know we've made some progress, how much progress we'll all find out together eventually." 

Q: This time last year the offensive line you were putting it together. It feels like it's a little more stable at this point. Do you feel that that group is a little bit further ahead of where it was last year? 

Coach McDaniels: "I think they know more as a group. If you talk to them, a lot of the guys are returning, so they have an ability - we talked about this last week - improvement doesn't necessarily come through acquisition. Our jobs as coaches are to improve the players each day. So, I think as a unit, as a group, those guys their communication has improved. Their overall understanding of what's being asked of them has improved. They work like crazy, so we couldn't ask anything more than what we're getting from them in that regard. So, love their attitude, love their mindset. I think we're doing the same thing, because offensive linemen fortunately or unfortunately don't get to necessarily work beside the same guy every rep all season long. So they're learning their teammates, they're getting comfortable communicating with one another, which is an important aspect of this time of the year. And hopefully all of them are growing." 

Q: Two offensive linemen that played a lot last year, Dylan Parham and Thayer Munford who are rookies, they had their growing pains but they played well. What has kind of been the change of mindset or I guess the improvement of comfortability going from last year going into this year? 

Coach McDaniels: "I would say they probably would tell you that they are starting from a higher ground. They know more than they did last year at this time certainly. I think both of them have changed physically some. They've been in an offseason program now, a full offseason program here. They understand more what it requires of them to go through an entire 17-game season plus three preseason games and not have your body feeling the way that I'm sure most rookies feel at the end of the year. So, there's a lot of things that they know now that they didn't last year. Again, we're going to need to see a lot of those guys translate those things in August, where they can actually hit people, block, etc., pass protect. So there's a lot that we haven't been able to see, but I really like the way that they're working." 

Q: What's the next step for Divine Deablo and what do you like about that group of linebackers overall? 

Coach McDaniels: "Divine, I mean I'm really fond of Divine. I think he knows that, and we've given them a lot of responsibility. He's wearing the green dot in practice, which is obviously a role that young players, once they have that on their shoulders now they're responsible for more than just their job. They have to communicate to everyone else. They have to be alert and aware of situational football, because they're essentially the quarterback of the defense once you have that responsibility. So, Divine has grown every literally every week since I've seen him and known him. He works really hard at the game of football. I think he's embraced this year as a year that is a growth year for him, not only on the field in terms of what he does on the field, but also how he can impact others. And I think that's something that you see from him every day." 

Q: I had a player telling me that Divine was stepping up telling guys where to go. Patrick Graham says he's bigger physically, but guys said he seems to be more confident. Can you see that? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I do. And again, with knowledge comes that confidence in yourself and also the confidence to tell your teammates if they ask a question - like last year I know we had a few younger players where somebody would ask them a question and there would be crickets, and that's a bad feeling if you're the guy asking the question. So, Divine [Deablo] knows a lot more, he understands the whole scope of the defense. We're trying to get him to learn it from that perspective so he can help others, like I said, much like the quarterback, and he's embraced that." 

Q: I don't know how much you pay attention to the NBA right now, but the Miami Heat have many undrafted free agents contributing to a championship run. Part of that is coaches being open to the fact that it might not be our draft pick, it might be the guy at the end of the line, but giving everybody an honest chance. Did you have to train yourself to get to that point as a coach where you're literally seeing everybody through the same kind of lens? 

Coach McDaniels: "I don't think so. I mean, I didn't think of it that way. First of all, there's no way to put your roster together and have 80 first, second and third round draft picks. So, your team is going to consist of a lot of different players that got to your roster in a lot of different ways. So, we tell them from the beginning, 'We're all Raiders now. This is 2023, we're all Raiders, it doesn't really matter how you got here. What matters is what you do once you're here.' And to me, the best thing for us as coaches is to put the best 11 out there, not look at the status, how we acquired them, what round they were drafted in what their salary says, because if we're always trying to put the best 11 out there and then we're doing the right thing for the Raiders. If we're looking at other factors and playing the political game, that can get real - you're just not putting the best team on the field always. It might end up that way, but obviously this league has a long history of players that were drafted fifth, sixth, seventh round or beyond when the draft was longer and undrafted. And like I said, we have a number of players on our team that have had good early careers that weren't drafted. Like Brandon Bolden, what is this, year 12 or 13? I mean, he wasn't drafted. So, everybody has the same opportunity, everybody is going to get reps, and we're going to coach them all the same, and I think that's a good thing. If you're a player you want to hear that, that, 'Hey, the opportunity is the same for me as it is for somebody that was drafted a lot earlier than I was.' And hopefully we do the right thing and pick the right players." 

Q: With minicamp being mandatory and OTAs being voluntary, what's the attendance been like for minicamp thus far? I know you're just starting it. 

Coach McDaniels: "You're talking about today? Yeah, JJ [Josh Jacobs] is the only one that's not under contract. So, everybody is here. We have 90 because David Agoha is in the international program. So we actually have 90 here, and that's what we would have expected." 

Q: What's the latest with Josh, that he just hasn't signed his contract? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, the deadline is not until July. So again, I respect everything about that process. This is not the first time that that's happened in terms of me being a part of that. Like I said, I stand by what I said before, love the kid, love the player, love the person and look forward to when I see him."  

Q: You mentioned the undrafted free agents wanting to hear that - the opportunity. You also had a couple of star players a couple of weeks ago talk about the buy-in and kind of believing in what you and Dave Ziegler have built here. After a disappointing year in year one, how do you get that by-in? How did you get these guys to kind of fully get on board and build that culture here? 

Coach McDaniels: “I think the first thing we all have to do is be accountable, and that starts with me and ways that I can do a better job of trying to do my job and help them be a better football team, help them be better players. I think our staff did the same thing; took a good look at ourselves. What can we do better to help our team? We were in a lot of close games and that's been very well documented. So, when you're in those kinds of close games, you're always fighting to figure out how you can finish them on the right end. And so, we've made some changes that we hope would be for the better. We've also tried to be accountable to our responsibility and role in that. And I think being honest with the players and having great lines of communication with them is always the right thing to do. Tell them the truth. Encourage them. We have a great working environment, positive attitude, and great leadership on our team. And so, we've just tried to feed into that and we're working really hard. We got a long way to go. Nothing's been accomplished yet, but I think the right things are at least being attempted at this point in time of the year and we're going to try to continue to do that here going into training camp.” 

Q: A bunch of players have been out at the Knights games the last couple of nights. And obviously the Aces are doing what they're doing. Is there anything about the sports momentum and maybe being a part of that, that can help you guys and kind of build the culture you're trying to build? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean it's obviously a very exciting time for Las Vegas, and being in this town now with multiple pro sports teams and seeing them have success and supporting them the way that we're trying to do that - I know a number of our players were there Saturday and now a number of them were there last night - I think they get excited when they see that's what we're trying to do. We all know what we're trying to build here and the type of success we're looking to have and hopefully sustain. So, I think it's been incredible to be able to support them and witness it. It's not over yet, they've got two to go and Coach [Bruce] Cassidy would be the first one to say that, but I think our guys have really taken to it." 

Q: Tyler Hall, what have you see from last year to this year and his improvements? Coach McDaniels: "Tyler [Hall] was a guy we got a little later, so being able to be here and understand the entire offseason, the defense in its entirety, really have an opportunity to experience every day in the offseason I think is great for young players. Tyler is very diligent. He works really hard. He's smart. He knows his job. He knows really how his job fits in the whole entire context of the team, very competitive. As you saw last year when he got in there like he made an impact right away in certain ways. I expect nothing different this year. He's a very competitive player that made an impact for us on our roster last year, and I'm excited to see what he can do this year."  

Q: Brandon Parker is a guy you didn't get to use last year but you've kept him around for a reason. Will you talk about what you saw in him that made you believe in him to keep him, and maybe what you've seen through OTAs? 

Coach McDaniels: "First of all, he's a great human being, and these are the kind of guys you want to have in your locker room, they help everybody. He works his butt off, he sets a great example for others. He's improved significantly in his own ways in the weight room this offseason, which is a tribute to him and the type of work ethic that he has. Came back from the injury last year, which took a while for an offensive lineman to do that, and then really has had an impressive offseason. Very unselfish, understands tackles, we use him both at left and right just to give him the opportunity to compete at all those spots. Embraces his role, embraces his opportunities, helps his teammates, communicates well with others. Just a good pro. It was unfortunate that that happened last year, because we were kind of starting the competition, if you will, but excited for Brandon [Parker] to have an opportunity to insert himself in there and see where it goes." 

OTA Offseason workouts: June 12-15

Mandatory Minicamp: June 6-8

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