It was a long time coming, but Marcus Peters finally saw his dream realized when he signed with the Las Vegas Raiders right before the start of training camp.
An Oakland native, Peters grew up watching and rooting for the Silver and Black and now gets a chance to help his childhood team get back to the playoffs. The veteran has already made his presence felt on the team during camp and has clearly made an impact in his short time.
Known for his ball-hawking skills and confidence, Peters described his mindset when it comes to defense and how willing he is to impart what he knows to other players via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN:
“I play offense on defense and defense on offense,” he said. “They go hand in hand. I want to get the ball, and when the ball is in the air, you’ve got to have a will and want to go get it … you’ve got to just make sure that infects the whole locker room and we all just do it as one unit — you feel me? — and it’s going to pay off for us.
“I tell everybody, man, ‘I’m an open book, and for you to get the information, you’ve got to go want to pull it out of the library and you’ve got to want to go read it.'”
Throughout his career, Peters has been unafraid to make a play on the field as he understands what it means to a team’s chances of winning. While there have been instances of him getting burned on such plays, his body of work suggests that he’s done far more good than bad.
His years of experience have also come in handy for the Raiders because the young defensive backs on the roster have someone to model their games after and go to for any advice or tips. Peters will have a role on the field during the 2023 season, but he could very well make his biggest contributions off of it.
Nate Hobbs learning from Marcus Peters and Marcus Epps
Las Vegas did well to add multiple veteran players in the offseason as the bulk of the team is still young and finding their way in the NFL. For example, Nate Hobbs is coming off a subpar sophomore season after having a stellar debut in his first year.
Fortunately, he’s been able to soak up a lot of knowledge in training camp as he’s been actively learning from Marcus Epps and Peters.
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