The Las Vegas Raiders are on summer break after ending the offseason work with their mandatory minicamp and the team won’t assemble until late July for the start of training camp.
We are three things to ponder during this quiet time:
The big health questions are whether star pass-rusher Maxx Crosby, linebacker Nakobe Dean and rookie cornerback Jermod McCoy will be ready for training camp. Dean was out during all offseason sessions attended by media members. Assistant head coach Mike McCoy said Dean was been working in the building and there is no concern. He said the goal is to have everyone ready for the season. So, that suggests Dean may be working through something health wise, but it doesn’t sound too serious. Dean signed a three-year, $36 million contract with the Raiders with $20 million in guaranteed money in March. McCoy was not on the field for the past four sessions attended by the media. He had been previously doing some things on the practice field. He is working through a knee injury with hopes of playing this season. Crosby was on the field for stretching but didn’t practice because he is recovering from knee surgery. The plan is for Crosby to practice when training camp starts. I think the biggest question of the three players is whether McCoy will be practicing regularly in training camp.
There will be battles everywhere on the roster, including quarterback, the offensive line, cornerback and at kicker. Training camp will be all about quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza, but don’t sleep on the kicking competition between veteran addition Matt Gay and heralded undrafted rookie Kansei Matsuzawa AKA The Tokyo Toe.
Will there be any additions:
The Raiders have been busy adding pieces all offseason and there may be some more moves trickling in during before training camp. Among the positions they could add at are at wide receiver, the offensive line and at all three layers of defense. But, I’d expect most of the new additions to come at the end of training camp, especially since Las Vegas will have the top waiver priority in the league to start the season because they had the No. 1 overall draft pick.