Jon Gruden will check into the Napa Valley Marriott on Monday with a much different group than he did a year ago. There will be 46 new players on the Raiders’ 90-man roster when training camp opens. This after Gruden brought in 42 new faces in 2018 for his first season back.
“He doesn’t have a lot of patience, and that’s a good thing,” one veteran player texted Wednesday.
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Quarterback Derek Carr will check in on Tuesday with the other quarterbacks and rookies, with the rest of the veterans due in Friday. They should have a wing of rooms for Derek’s Dozen at the hotel. (Oh, that’s what I am calling the 12 players who have survived Gruden’s first two purges.)
Only five of the 12 are starters, and two of those are no sure things.
How many of them will make it to Las Vegas when the team moves there in 2020?
Many of the players and front-office types that were asked to turn in their key fobs to the Raiders facility in the last eight months share the same sentiment — that Gruden wants to win with his own players. Whenever Gruden hears that viewpoint, he makes the Chucky face and says he just wants to win. Period.
Gruden calls last year a necessary step backward — the Raiders traded Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper and finished 4-12 — after a 6-10 record in 2017 got Jack Del Rio fired. Gruden brought in old friend Mike Mayock as the new general manager, and the two spent the entire offseason giving Carr votes of confidence. And they then made it rain for new receiver Antonio Brown and right tackle Trent Brown. Again, Gruden doesn’t have the patience for a proper rebuild and that’s a good thing for the Oakland fans saying goodbye to their team this season.
Here is a quick look at Derek’s Dozen, in order of importance for this season, as well as what Gruden needs to see for them to call Vegas realtors:
1. QB Derek Carr
What, you thought I was going to say Rodney Hudson? He’s great, but this league is about quarterbacks, not big butts with great hands and brains. It’s been well-documented that the Raiders can get away from Carr’s huge contract next year, and one of the big storylines for the “Hard Knocks” television series will surely be that Gruden added so many great pieces to give Carr a chance to succeed.
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Here’s the problem with that storyline: Just a year ago, Gruden was talking up that receiving corps — and Carr said Cooper, Jordy Nelson, Martavis Bryant and Ryan Switzer was the best group he has ever had. Marshawn Lynch ran the ball very hard and very well before getting hurt, and the Raiders drafted two tackles in the first three rounds to protect Carr. Tight end Jared Cook had a career year. So, save me the spin.
At this point, we all know what Carr is — an above-average quarterback who needs a clean pocket and sometimes pre-determines his throws. He has a very strong arm but often looks for the check down. And last season, that was often what Gruden wanted. Now, it’s on Gruden, not Carr, to get the most out of the quarterback. If the Raiders struggle — let’s say 7-9 or worse is unacceptable — and Gruden wants to get his own QB, Carr will have no problem finding another starting job.
2. C Rodney Hudson
He’s the one thing that Gruden and former general manager Reggie McKenzie agreed on. Hudson might be the favorite player for each of them, and Mayock is talking to Hudson’s agent about a new deal. Hudson is going to Vegas.
3. RG Gabe Jackson
Is this the year Jackson finally makes the leap and gets to the Pro Bowl? There is no reason he shouldn’t. Jackson played last season injured, but is healthy and is even sniffing around a leadership role, a big leap for a naturally laid-back guy. Jackson had second-year tackle Brandon Parker train with him in Mississippi this offseason, and Jackson also showed Parker how to punish a hibachi chef and put on a good 30 pounds.
4. DT Justin Ellis
The sixth-year vet is solid, and the coaches hope that a rotation of him, Mo Hurst, Johnathan Hankins, P.J. Hall and maybe even Eddie Vanderdoes makes a strong push and takes some pressure off the defensive ends.
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5. CB Gareon Conley
Fans love the 2017 first-round pick, and he definitely has gotten better and is capable of making some nice plays on an island against a top receiver. His tackling has also gotten better and is no longer awful. But — brace yourself — like Ellis, Conley is not a lock to start.
The coaching staff won’t say this out loud but they are not totally sold on him, and the drafting of Trayvon Mullen in the second round impacts Conley as much as it does Daryl Worley, the Raiders’ other top cornerback. And Nevin Lawson got a pretty good contract, coming from the Lions, so cornerback is going to be an underrated camp battle.
6. S Karl Joseph and Erik Harris (tie)
One of these two will likely start opposite rookie Johnathan Abram. Joseph was also not a favorite of the new staff, but he worked very hard last season and made some nice plays after the team was unable to trade him at the deadline. Joseph will always be undersized, but he made some big hits last season that he hadn’t made his first three seasons and he started to resemble the player he was advertised to be.
Harris has great range, and you can see the former CFL player and special-teams guy gaining confidence daily.
8. RB Jalen Richard
Gruden said Richard reminds the coach of Charlie Garner and is deserving of a bigger role. And then he drafts Josh Jacobs in the first round to be a three-down back. Richard will probably split backup carries with Doug Martin and will lose a good chunk of those 68 catches last year to Jacobs.
9. RB DeAndré Washington
I am surprised Washington survived last season, and that is no knock on Washington — I definitely feel he is an NFL running back. It’s just that he and Richard — both 5-foot-8 — duplicate each other, and that’s something Bill Musgrave pulled the last few strands of hair out over three years ago.
10. LB Marquel Lee and Nicholas Morrow (tie)
I like both these guys’ chances to make the roster as backups after they have been asked to start games in the past and didn’t do much. Best linebacker depth in years!
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12. DT Eddie Vanderdoes
Gruden said he is excited to see what Vanderdoes does at camp, coming off a torn ACL. Vanderdoes was actually the team’s third-round pick in 2017 and played very well in the first game, then largely vanished into the pile of bodies at the line of scrimmage before sustaining the injury the last game of the season. He missed all of 2018 and it seems like he has to beat out Hall to make the roster.
Note: Four players — offensive linemen David Sharpe and Denver Kirkland, receiver Keon Hatcher and linebacker James Cowser were on the Raiders under Del Rio in 2017, but Gruden cut them and later brought them back to fill out the roster. So … they don’t count.
Mailbag call: I would be honored to answer your pre-camp questions on Friday. Fire away below.
(Photo: Mark Brown/Getty Images)
