Head Coach Jack Del Rio
The Oakland Raiders are up in Napa, Calif., getting ready for the official kick off of Training Camp 2017. The coaching staff, rookies, quarterbacks, and a select group of players have been engaging in a four-day pre camp, as they continue to prepare for the work in the coming weeks ahead. Tuesday morning, Head Coach Jack Del Rio appeared on 95.7 The Game to chat about the competition level and new additions to the roster.
Here are the quick hits from his time on the air:
**Del Rio addressed how the team will handle the outside noise, and not let it serve as a distraction.
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"I think the biggest thing for us is to recognize hype, or discussions, or expectations, or preseason ranks, or whether or not we're going somewhere in three years, or those kind of things are all noise. It all has very little to do with who we are and what we're about. I think our focus will be on understanding what our standard it is, and understanding what the processes are that we must go through to become a really good football team, so that's going to be the message."
He discussed how last season is in the rear view mirror, and the team has moved forward.
"I think the way we look at it, we acknowledge, we know we've got a good team, we know we can play with anybody, we know we're good on all three phases. How you rank on last year's stats and that projects going forward is more for fantasy leagues than what we're doing. We're busy at work, we've got a good group of guys, we've added to it. Obviously there have been some subtractions like there are any year, there's some additions, there's some subtractions, you change the team a little bit, but we feel like we've strengthened ourselves coming out of the offseason and we're excited about getting started in all three phases."
Del Rio talked about managing the running backs reps, but specifically those for Marshawn Lynch.
"We'll see how many carries and what the plan is. For me, we just love that we've been able to add a guy like Marshawn that has such great passion for our franchise. He's obviously a big physical runner, runs with attitude, and we know it can help our power game. But the biggest thing is we added a good player, like we do with all our players, we'll have him come in be a good teammate, let him express himself, we'll determine a role based on what we think is best for us as a team, and we'll ask him to embrace that, and then we'll go."
**He shared his excitement to have Assistant Head Coach – Defense John Pagano on the staff.
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"John's a great addition to the staff, he's a good people person, he's a very, very good communicator, he's got a lot of knowledge. To have John come in and work with us and the defensive staff was very beneficial. You know, John's an Assistant Head Coach with the defense, what he will do is be over the top of the secondary, have an extra set of eyes, being able to provide input to Kenny [Defensive Coordinator Ken Norton, Jr.] and I, and he's just an asset."
Del Rio touched on the competition at the middle linebacker position, and how the young guns will contend for the spot.
"We've got some young guys that are excited about the opportunity to compete there. I think that we'll just let them compete and let it work itself out. We drafted a young man, Marquel [Lee], and we got a couple guys returning like Cory James. We'll let them compete, see where it goes; I feel like when I look at us as a football team I think we've strengthened ourselves, and really fortified ourselves in many, many positions."
