The memories, they can flow easily but Mark Davis is more concerned with the present.

Indeed, there are flashbacks for the Raiders owner, as a 13-year-old training camp ballboy, paying his dues to the fearsome likes of Ben Davidson, Tom Keating, Carleton Oats and Harry Schuh in the late 1960s at the iconic El Rancho Tropicana in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Davis called it his "indoctrination" into the Raiders.

But the reflections, which bring about smiles and laughs, are fleeting, and easily compartmentalized by the current sight of a healthy Maxx Crosby doing his thing and dominating the day.

"Maxx," Davis said, "is a different animal. He's one of one.

"I don't see a hitch in his step."

Visions of a high school-aged Davis, then, running post routes against Willie Brown - "He beat Willie a few times," the late Cliff Branch once told me. "If I did, it was because he let me," Davis laughed. "Most of the time, I couldn't get off the line because of the bump-and-run." - catching passes from Daryle Lamonica, George Blanda and Ken Stabler, and throwing balls to Fred Biletnikoff also enter the picture.

"It was all part of becoming a Raider," Davis said.

Then, Kirk Cousins, who turns 38 on Aug. 19 and is four years older now than Stabler was when he played his final game as a Raider, went on a heater to shift the focus. Cousins, who had his leg speed and arm strength questioned nationally in the media in the early days of camp, was creating on the run while throwing dots, if not darts.

No, there's not a lot of speed to his throws. Yes, there is somewhat of an arcing loop and his ball can sometimes come out flat.

"But all I see is him finding open guys and getting the ball to them," Davis said. "Kirk Cousins is looking really good. He's a pro quarterback.

"It's the Tom Brady effect."

Cousins has been alternately "crisp" and "deliberate" in running an offense with which he is intimately familiar as he throws to spots on the field, rather than to receivers running to those spots.

It's a small but important distinction.

"We've got three legit quarterbacks on the roster," Davis said.

And if you're keeping score at home, that's 15th-year vet Cousins, No. 1 draft pick Fernando Mendoza and fourth-year occasional starter Aidan O'Connell.

So it went Tuesday morning as I joined Davis in his midfield box overseeing practice for a wide-ranging interview to get his take on the Raiders as he goes through his 15th training camp as owner, following the passing of his father, Hall of Famer Al Davis, in 2011, already the team's seventh in Southern Nevada since the 2020 relocation from Oakland.

From Davis' vantage point in his box, it's an All-22 film view of the proceedings.

Literally and figuratively.

Yes, he has his eyes on certain players. No, it's not just height, weight and speed guys.

Yes, a few receivers have stood to him. No, we're not going to single anyone out here.

Still, he did acknowledge he was interested to see growth from the Raiders' second- and third-year players, especially. And if you don't have a roster, that would mean the likes of offensive linemen Jackson Powers-Johnson, DJ Glaze, Caleb Rogers and Charles Grant, cornerbacks Decamerion Richardson and Darien Porter, linebacker Tommy Eichenberg and running back/special teams ace Dylan Laube, receivers Jack Bech and Dont'e Thornton, Jr. and defensive tackles Tonka Hemingway and J.J. Pegues.

That's not counting ascending stars Brock Bowers, already a first-team All-Pro tight end, and running back Ashton Jeanty.

The kicking competition between free-agent acquisition Matt Gay and undrafted rookie Kansei “The Tokyo Toe” Matsuzawa is another intriguing storyline.

Still, Davis hired football people to make football decisions and he is "excited" about the teaming of second-year general manager John Spytek, who he lauded as "phenomenal," and rookie coach Klint Kubiak, who he said was "the right guy" for the Raiders.

"Football is cyclical and linear," Davis said. "Every year is a new year, but the past 40[-plus] years, we haven't achieved the goals we're after."

Which is winning Super Bowls. Which last happened for the franchise in the 1983 season, the franchise's third title in an eight-year span at the time.

"This is my 15th year in charge and we haven't gotten it right yet," he said, and the Raiders have only been to the playoffs twice since the 2002 Super Bowl season.

"But this year feels good. Like I said, football is cyclical. In 15 years, we might have gotten it right. And I say 'we,' not 'me.' Because it's a team effort. It's about the 'we.'"

Nearly 20 Raiders alumni were in attendance Tuesday, fan favorites like Biletnikoff, Greg Townsend, Gus Otto, Steve Wisniewski, Richie Incognito, Mervyn Fernandez and Napoleon McCallum, a key figure in the team's move to Southern Nevada.

McCallum stopped by Davis' box to check in. He, too, liked what he saw in the second padded practice of camp, which offered the occasional thump.

Yeah, it's getting close to football-for-real season and practice is winding down. So I asked Davis, even with the small sample size, his impressions from his perch.

"It looks like we've got a lot of football players," he said, emphasizing the word football.

"I like the feel. The momentum. The tempo."

Still, it's hard not to wander back to those wild and wooly days at the El Rancho Tropicana, right?

Dog days of fully-padded two-a-day practices.

Being sequestered with each other for weeks on end in a hotel room.

Bonding and team-building.

Those halcyon days give today a certain country club feel.

"The facilities we have," Davis said, "are absolutely extraordinary."

Remember, it's about the present…with a knowing nod to the past.