Derek Carr Gives His Latest Assessment on the Las Vegas Raiders

Derek Carr after two weeks of camp gave his latest thoughts and assessments on the Las Vegas Raiders training camp.

HENDERSON, Nev.-The Las Vegas Raiders have completed two weeks of training camp.  This week they open the preseason against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.

Quarterback Derek Carr was all smiles as his team implements a new scheme and he discussed how the Silver and Black are doing in camp.

You can watch his entire press conference below, and read the transcript:

Quarterback Derek Carr

Q: How has the process been going of learning the new offense?

Carr: “That’s the best part, is just getting on the field and ironing it out. Like, ‘hey, you can get through that one quicker. Or, hey, you can throw it like this.’ And obviously I got great film to watch and Tom [Brady] running the offense. And so, it’s been cool for me to see him doing it, watching his eyes and things he was doing to manipulate (defenses). Trying not to just be new at it but trying to take that next step. So, it’s been fun. Again, it’s a process. I’m learning a new one, but it’s fun for me because I enjoy the mental side of the game. Learning from Josh [McDaniels], Mick [Lombardi] and Bo [Hardegree] and how they see it. It could be the same play I’ve run before, but it’s their philosophy and it could be different. But it’s been fun, it’s been a lot of fun.”

Q: Do you feel like there has been more of an emphasis on fundamentals with this coaching staff?

Carr: “Well, I can talk about Josh, and I know Josh has emphasized the heck out of that. From fumbled snaps to picks, fumbles, penalties on offense, defense and special teams. How fundamentals come into play on those things, how we drill those things, and the fundamentals of things is something that we work really hard at, it’s something that we do a lot of here in this system, in all three phases, and hopefully that will result into what he’s saying, that happening for us.”

Q: Do you think the team can mitigate penalties this season?

Carr: “I sure hope so. There have been times where I’m like, ‘dude, no way.’ One of the things is like if that’s the case then we need to work 10 times harder at it. So, it’s really been emphasized on fundamentals, making sure the penalties we can eliminate, especially the mental ones, the pre snap ones, all those things. It’s really been a huge emphasis with Josh and our coaches.”

Q: Have you been told if or how much you will play in the preseason?

Carr: “I’m not going to lie to you, we haven’t even talked about it.”

Q: Do you have a preference of when you play in the preseason?

Carr: “Oh, no. I don’t care. I think with the way that I’ve always tried to practice, I don’t treat it any different from the speed of how I want to play. And I push our receivers, and our coaches do too, to make it as real as possible so that if we play in the preseason, awesome, if we don’t, we are still ready from the speed of things. When you got Maxx [Crsoby], Chandler [Jones] and those guys and how hard they practice, you get a simulation of a real rush and things like that. We haven’t talked about it, but we try to make practice as if, ‘hey, we don’t if we are.’ Preference-wise, we do so much I don’t really have a preference. If we play, awesome. Any time you get a chance to put an NFL uniform on and play you’re excited. Again, for me it doesn’t matter. I’ve played in them; I haven’t played in them. Either way we’ll be ready.

Q: What have you seen from the offensive line so far through camp?

Carr: “I think that Carm [Carmen Bricillo] and Cam [Clemmons] are doing a great job with pushing the physicality with them. I hate using that term all the time, but it really is what they are doing. They are really working hard in their individual (periods), because when they get to us, I mean they’re grinding, and they are taking what they learn in the individual and the one-on-one’s and doing it in group and doing it in team. I think that they are doing some really good things and you got to give credit to the players for their effort, but to our coaches because they’ve really been demanding, and they are going after it and they are working. And out players receiving it, so it’s been good. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but I have seen them getting after it and doing some really nice things.”

Q: What have you seen from Lester Cotton Sr.?

Carr: “I’m so proud of Lester. When he first came in, one of the first questions he asked me, this was in Alameda (California), he says, ‘what do I need to do to be your starting guard.’ That’s what he asked me. And I was like, ‘what a question.’ I said, ‘man, keep working your butt off.’ At the time, you can look back and see who we had there, and it was going to be hard for him. But I told Lester when we were walking to our cars yesterday, I said, ‘Lester, I’m so proud of you.’ Because through the cuts, through the resigns, through the this and that, new schemes, you have done nothing but put your head down and you’ve been in there with A.J. Neibel (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach), you’ve worked your butt off and now you are getting reps and all these things. And I said, ‘you look good man. You’re doing some good things.’ And so, I don’t where he’s at with everything as Carmen would know or Josh would know. But I can tell you just how proud of him I am. Hopefully, that says what I’m trying to say what I see about him, how much he’s come from when I first saw him.”

Q: Have you thought about what it might be like to play in the Hall of Fame game and how special of a weekend it is?

Carr: “Yeah, we got to go to the symposium they used to do in Ohio. I guess I’m that old now. We went to the Hall of Fame. To me, to be able to play in that game obviously would be awesome, especially against a good football team, good front, good cover guys, good linebackers, it’d be fun to see it. At the end of the day, we are in training camp, so my mind is like what do I have to do this afternoon. I got a lot in the meetings; I got a lot in the walkthrough that is already going through my head. If I’m honest, I haven’t thought about what that would be like, but I’m assuming the more that I think about, absolutely it would be cool. I think that was Josh’s high school too, like his stadium. I know that’s cool for him to go back.”

Q: Do you visualize throwing more deeper passes down field with all the weapons in the receiving core?

Carr: “Yeah. I got to be honest, I thought the last couple years we’ve done that. In this system, I don’t know. I haven’t played games in this system yet, seen that flow of how he calls them, where he wants the ball to go. You’d have to go look back to his past. I know I’m willing. I know we’re able. We’ll see, but right now we are just working a lot of speed-option, triple-option type things. (laughter)”

Q: What have you seen from the defensive backs group in practice?

Carr: “Like you said, I think you all see it too, they’re really competitive. They are making plays on some really good players and it’s not just routes on air. When they are playing man coverage, it’s sticky. They are doing some good things. Again, that’s a credit to the coaches, the scheme, the players buying in to how they want to do things, using our fundamentals and not your own. Everyone has been in different schemes, but how do we do it our way. And I think everyone is buying in and I think when everyone buys in and does it right, the proof is on the film. That, hey, when you do it right this is what it should look like. They are super competitive. They are challenging me to make really tight throws, some tighter throws than some games. They are really doing a good job of covering and proud of those guys. And sometimes obviously with the talent that we have, they get beat here and there on certain things. But that’s not a knock, it’s definitely not a knock on them. But I’ve been really impressed with all our secondary and the covering skills that they’ve had. I’m excited to watch them work. Again, it’s a process, but they are doing some really good things.”

Q: What are your initial takeaways on the new receivers in Mack Hollins, Demarcus Robinson and Keelan Cole?

Carr: “Keelan has really impressed me with his ability to turn in the air to make catches. His ability on the sideline, he’s really good. There is never a doubt if he’s in or he’s out. Some guys just have a natural feel of where they are at on the field. He runs really crisp routes. Robinson has flashed that talent, that speed that we have seen happen against us for a few years. He’s flashed those same things here, that ability to be someone that can stretch the field and also run the intermediate to short stuff and make something happen afterwards. Mack, he’s someone that does everything. He’s a big body. Obviously, he’s made a great career playing some special teams and being able to play all the positions at receiver. I try to tell guys all the time, and Mack is an indication of that, try to learn it all. If you can jump in at this spot or you can jump in here, it just helps your ability to play for a long time. And Mack reminds me of that, he learns it all. He’s one of the first guys I’ve seen where maybe he’s not the first target right now, but people gravitate towards him because of his work ethic. They want to sit around him and be around him. Obviously, you guys know, he’s a funny, cool guy. Guys want to be around him. But it’s all football and his ability to tell the young guys, ‘Man, this is how I did it. Come on, if you’re not one of the top guys you got to play special teams. What are you doing?’ And his ability to push guys in that direction has been impressive, to get that out of guys. If I played receiver and I was the number one guy in my college and you come here and are like, ‘Dang, I got to run down on a kickoff?’ Mack does a great job of helping guys understand what it’s like to be a pro.”

Q: Is this the best wide receiver group you’ve had in your career?

Carr: “I don’t know. We’ll see. On paper it looks great and it’s exciting, I get that. I was excited for everyone that we have added, but we got to prove that. It’s an exciting time from when we go out to practice that you can roll guys in, and they can all play at a high level. But practice and games are two different things, and so I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m always optimistic, but the last few years I’m just trying to stay like this, just keep enjoying the process, keep enjoying getting better with each receiver and see where that takes us.”

Q: Do you have any thought on the Kyler Murray situation? Is there a group text among quarterbacks where you guys talk about those kinds of things that happen?

Carr: “It depends on what quarterbacks you know. I didn’t talk to anybody about it. I know a lot of quarterbacks, in my nine years I got to know a lot of them, and we didn’t say anything about it. I don’t his situation. I don’t know their GM like that. I don’t know Kyler that close; I’ve talked to him a couple of times. At the end of the day, I just hope for him you just want to eliminate the distractions and go play football. That’s just in my mind as a young player that he is, and he’s super talented, super successful. Just eliminate those distractions. Don’t even worry about it, just keep playing, be a good teammate and lead your team. It’s hard to stand up there answering questions and we’ve been through some things in these years. It’s hard to get up there all the time and having to answer certain things about the business side or this or that. Hopefully he can kind of put that aside and answer them and move on and just play football. I wish that for him. I didn’t talk to anybody about it. But my thoughts on it are to just go play football. I hope he’s doing great.”

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