Raiders Training Camp Report 14: Winners & Losers

The Team

1. One thing I admire about the new direction of the Raiders is that they are embracing winning as the culture, but also the versatility necessary to make that happen. Luke Steckel, the TE coach, talked about how that versatility as a franchise shows up in the offense.

"It's a very versatile scheme. I love being in this scheme. I've coached in versions of this offense in the past. I think our group in the tight end room really loves it. But for us, it's just going out and get better every single day. It's mastering this scheme. We've still got a long way to go before we play our first regular season game, and we're kind of exploring every angle and versatility this offense provides. And as the tight ends coach, I'm really excited for what it looks like for our group."

2. Free agency, draft picks, janitors, and coaches all understand there is a standard back in Raider Nation. The fans may have never lost it, but over the last 20-plus years, the franchise did. That standard is back, and Klint Kubiak is enforcing it. New Raider and starting LG Spencer Burford made it clear.

“He wants a standard. The standard is clear as far as what he wants. What I like about it is he keeps everybody on the same page and he makes it clear. That's the big thing as far as just making everything clear on the same base and making sure everybody's on the same accord, moving in the same direction from the upstairs staff, from his coaching staff, to the players. He just tries to make sure that we're all going towards the goal, which is winning Super Bowls."

3. Loyalty is a term that is not new to Raider Nation, but is back in style with this new regime. It is evident all over the field, and no one has summed it up better than Jackson Powers-Johnson.

“I think it's important as a team. I mean, when players feel like coaches have their back, they can go in and go play football and know that every coach is trying to get them better for a common goal. That's what it's all about. All these coaches, they’ve talked about it. They've also showed it. It's been incredible.”

The Veterans

G Jackson Powers-Johnson (JPJ)

In a battle for his starting RG spot with Caleb Rogers, JPJ had a solid day. I wrote extensively about this battle in my position preview. With Rogers out, he took all the RG reps, kept his head down, and was all business. He is an impressively talented man; when he approaches his game like a blue-collar, lunch-pail-carrying construction worker, he does just that.

JPJ is feeling good, settled on a spot and competing, which is what he loves to do.

“Continuity is always great and it's given me a chance to focus on one position. But I think it's helped us as a group as well that everybody knows who's playing where. But it doesn't really matter, we're all just trying to get better every day and have fun playing football.”

TE Ian Thomas

Known as a special-teams savant and an elite blocker, the knock on Thomas has been his pass-catching contributions. I wrote about that extensively in my position preview. This camp, he is out to prove the other critics of his pass-catching skill wrong, and me, and he has.

Today again, he made multiple big catches, and in a Kubiak system that loves to have 12- and 13-personnel, he will get those chances.

I asked Steckel about Thomas being on a mission to prove that criticism of his game wrong.

"Yeah, I mean Ian [Thomas] is a guy we're going to count on this year. We need him to do everything, so I know he's been kind of labeled in his career as a blocking tight end, but I think he's got a really proficient skill set as a pass catcher. There's a lot of great skill players on our offense, and there's only one ball to go around. But when the ball goes his way, we plan on him catching it and making plays with it."

CB Greedy Vance

The young man made this roster as a UDFA, and despite that, he still had multiple questions around him, not based on his talent, but more on a lack of development under last year’s head coach. The reality is, again today, he shone, getting his third interception of the rookie QB that NFL executives love, Fernando Mendoza.

Two of these three INTs have come from the hand of the rookie, the other from veteran Kirk Cousins. Vance is shining bright, yet may still find himself on the outside looking in at a CB room that was once anemic and now looks full.

S Coach Matt Robison loves Vance and described his camp very favorably.

“Throughout camp, he's been doing a great job playing both nickel and safety, and excited where he's at. Really excited to see what happens when the pads come on for him."

WR Tre Tucker

Tre Tucker looks like what the Raiders thought they were getting when they selected him. He is fast and tough and now has two QBs on the roster who can get him the ball on the run, accurately, down the field. Today, he was a coach to Malik Benson, encouraging the rookie and mentoring him, and they took an amazing coach from Zach Azzanni, who sprinted downfield to talk to him after a great catch. Comfortable in his own skin, Tucker is not only emerging as an excellent receiver, but a critical leader.

Tucker is thrilled to have now a scheme he can see himself thriving in, and will be here for some time.

"Oh, great. I've been a part of four different systems, so for me, it's all football at the end of the day. And I think you know, people just call it different. There's some of the same terminology that I've had in the past, so it's not that much, honestly. It's just really cool."

DE Malcolm Koonce

The Raiders' DE had a great sack today and applied great pressure multiple times. Additionally, he moved well and was relentless down the field. He has had a good camp, but before today, I did not see any pop. There was pop today, and I especially liked the bend I saw in his ankles on the pressures.

Koonce said of his improvement, "I feel great. I feel comfortable. Feel like I'm getting my steps back and stuff. Getting my feet underneath me again, so feels good."

The Rookies

S/CB/LB Treydan Stukes

The young man flashed multiple times today in both technique and production. Showed off his speed coming out of a backpedal immediately into a full spring forward and made a play that got the attention of several teammates, and made plays in the passing and rushing defensive game. It was not a good day; it was a great day for him.

Kubiak said of the Silver and Black’s emerging rookie, "I like how hard he plays special teams. He's a guy that's going to challenge guys for spots in many places on defense and on teams. But I like that he's a team first guy and it shows up in the way that he plays teams.”

WR EJ Williams

The Indiana Hoosiers are showing commitment in downfield blocking, are disciplined in their routes when they have no involvement in the play, are selling the play to the defense, and are solid on special teams. He is playing anywhere that they let him, and he has a terrific work ethic and football acumen.

WR Malik Benson

All this kid does is make plays. Offense, special teams, pass catching, pass blocking, run blocking, and more, Benson is an all-around football player who, every single day, is putting the football plays on tape that have to seize the attention of the coaching and personnel staff.

He had several great catches, including a red zone strike from Kirk Cousins for the touchdown that was a pinpoint perfect pass from the veteran gunslinger that he had to contort his body to get into the small window to make the catch. Both sidelines were impressed by his play.

Fellow rookie CB Hezekiah Masses was excited when asked about competing with his fellow rookie, and didn’t hold back his praise.

“No, great guy, great receiver. He can do everything. So it's just iron sharp iron. So as soon as I line up against him, like we know we're going at it every day in practice."

CB Hezekiah Masses

Getting reps with the ones is a big deal (and he did today), but for the young man who continues to show up every day in my reports, it is simply because he keeps producing at a high level in every practice. Toda,y he was downfield backpedaling at full speed, stopped, and accelerated like a Corvette to top speed to come up in support and make a play that got the attention of his entire sideline. He is a big play waiting to happen.

One area that scouts were highly critical of him coming out in the NFL Draft was that he lacked physicality, which they thought would hinder him from playing in the NFL.

I asked him about that today, and he mentioned clearly that he is out to prove them wrong.

"Oh, yeah, I'm trying to take their head off. Yeah, that was a big issue, they said I can't tackle, so I'm going to show them. I'm going to show them very physical. I can do everything."

DE Cian Slone

This young man has seized his chance as a hidden gem UDFA and absolutely capitalized on it. His hand speed is impressive as he engages offensive linemen (who know the snap count) before they can get their hands solidified on the interior of his chest. It is a work of art that this young man possesses, and when you add his high-motor, relentless pursuit of the ball, he has impressed me. I even had him making the team on my latest 53-man projected roster.

His DL coach Travis Smith raved about his young pupil earlier today.

"It starts in the meeting room. He's very intelligent. He's very similar, where he's a great listener, same thing as Tonka [Hemingway], where if something's said, you're going to see it applied out here. You don't have to tell him two or three times when you put him out here on the grass. Although, you might look at him, and you might immediately judge him because of his lack of size or he's not the prototypical edge player."

"Does not matter. His heart is as big as anyone in the league. His disposition is relentless. His physicality shows up day in and day out, whether it's setting edges or it's rushing with power or converting with a little bit of speed. So, that's really cool and fun to watch."

Watch Today’s Podcast About What I Just Saw at Practice