Raiders Training Camp Preview: Position group competitions, players to watch

Hello everyone, it's Heidi Fang here for Vegas Nation and the Raiders reporting dates are in for training camp. It'll be July 21st for the rookies and July 23rd for the veterans. This year the Raiders will spend the days leading up to their first preseason game on August 10th in Costa Mesa, CA for their training camp headquarters. Joining me now to discuss some of the big questions on Raider Nation's mind is our Raiders beat writer Vinnie Bonsignore. Vinnie, you recently wrote a very early 53 man roster projection. As training training camp nears, you broke down all of the position groups and who you anticipate will be the starters and reserves. But of those breakdowns, which of the position groups will you be watching closest during training camp to see if those projections work out well? Immediately my eyes go right to cornerback and not just who that third starter is going to be opposite Jack Jones, whether it's going to be Jacory and Bennett or Brandon Faison. Don't rule out the Camry and Richardson, the rookie from Mississippi State. All three could be candidates to win that job. But then who fleshes out the rest of the room? You know, how many quarterbacks do they keep? Do they go outside the building to bring in, you know, a candidate for either the starting job or a depth piece? Can MJ Devonshire show enough in training camp to warrant a spot on the on the 53 man rosters seventh round team from the University of Pittsburgh? So not just in terms of who that starter might be, but what the entire room is going to look like outside of Nate Hobbs and Jack Jones. So cornerback for me is a position that I'm really getting to keep an eye on. OK, based off of what you said, I want to know if there's someone who has really caught your eye outside of Trey Tucker, who we spoke of last week. But in what you've seen so far, who has really grabbed your attention in terms of breaking out what you know year, year one to year two? Definitely Tyree Wilson, definitely Byron Young, the two defensive lineman that they've drafted, 1 Tyree Wilson, first round pick, 7th pick overall in 2023, and then Byron Young, a third round pick out of Alabama. So among the rookies, yeah, I think Dylan Lobby is somebody to to really keep an eye on. I think he's going to find his way onto the football field as a special teams player initially, But I think he showed enough, at least, you know, during the the the short period of time that we were out there in practice, that there might be room for him in terms of maybe some packages offensively as a change of pace back somebody that you can line up as wider as a wide receiver. You can hand it off to him. You can throw it to him out of the out of the backfield. Christopher Smith, the safety from Georgia, I'd like to see if he's ready to take a step forward, you know, in in year 2. So those would be the players that I'm that I'm looking at in terms of breakthrough from years one to year two. And who among that rookie class outside of Brock Powers and Jackson Powers Johnson, that could make an impact early on? Now, in terms of the training camp itself, we have a new location in the Jackhammed Sports Complex that the team will use as its home base during training camp in Costa Mesa. How ready is this complex? Or will it need renovations before the Raiders set up camp? Yeah, Well, this is a complex that's been ready since 2017. The Chargers have used Jackhammed Sports Complex since 2017, has been their training camp base since then. Now it's a little bit of a different dynamic because what the Chargers would do, their home based their their team facility was just up the road in Costa Mesa, just a couple blocks away actually. So they would literally get dressed to all their meetings there at their practice facility, then get on a bus and bus over to the to, to training camp practices, then get right on a bus and drive back to to to their facility to do their showering and all everything else that goes on. So obviously the Raiders don't have a facility nearby. So what they're going to do is #1 they're going to commandeer a local hotel. That'll be where they have their meetings. That'll be where they do the bulk of their work. Then they'll obviously get on buses and bus over to Jackhammets complex. Now, what they're proposing to do, and I don't know what the what the progress has been on this, but there's a local high school that's right across the street from the sport, from the complex. What the Raiders are proposing to do is pumping money into that high school and building a weight room. And I think would it would also be a sort of a locker room, a makeshift locker room. If they can't do that, then they're going to just do everything at the hotel. But I think that high school is going to be able to accommodate it and it's right there. So a little bit of a different dynamic, obviously, than what they're used to in Henderson, where everything is all in one building. But as far as the field itself, yeah, there's some there's some groundskeeping that has to that has to be done. But the city of of Costa Mesa is, is absolutely used to that. They've been doing it since 2017. Great stuff as always, Vinnie, keep up to date with all of the latest on the silver and black at vegasnation.com. We'll have you covered there from the start of training camp and beyond For Vinnie Bonsignore. I'm Heidi Fang. Thank you everyone so much for tuning in.