Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast Looks to the 53-Man Roster & More

Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast features a look ahead to the announcement of the 53-man roster tomorrow at 4 PMET and much more.

The Las Vegas Raiders Raiderettes / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders at 4 PMET/1 PM PT tomoorrow must cut their roster down to 53-players.

This team needs better play at the quarterback position, but that doesn't mean they won't get it. Both Aidan O'Connell, and Gardner Minshew have proven that they can do it in the National Football League, and because I live by a standard of past performance being indicative of future performance, that should be a balm on the Raider Nation wound of waiting for improved quarterback play.

Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast features a look ahead to the announcement of the 53-man roster tomorrow at 4 PMET and much more.

You can watch our latest podcast, in its entiety below:

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce spoke earlier this week, and below is the transcript of what he said.

Q: You've obviously got a pretty young cornerback room, I know Decamerion Richardson didn't play yesterday, some young guys got on the field last night, how do you feel about the depth in that position? I know you've talked about depth and the importance of it in that room in particular.

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I think it's still a work in progress."

Q: What's the biggest improvement that you would like to see moving forward from your team, and then biggest accomplishment that you've seen as you wrap up the preseason?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I would like us to improve the line of scrimmage, both on offensive line and defensive line. We talked about winning that, being physical and dominating up front, and that didn't show up in the preseason. And one thing I was really excited about was just our return game. I think Tre Tucker and [Tyerik] McAllister both showcased that they got some big play ability, we saw it last night. McAllister, did a great job returning that for us, and Tre Tucker as well."

Q: You've had three games now, an entire training camp, going into this first game, what are some of the characteristics you'd like your team defined by?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, physical, tough, don't blink, no flinching, and then handling situational football."

Q: I know last night you mentioned you got to huddle up with Tom Telesco and obviously make some hard decisions about the roster ahead of Tuesday. What are your priorities when you're looking at how you want to build a roster out and how you want the roster to look in terms of depth and which position you value more as a defensive coach? What is your vision for the roster looking ahead of it?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, well, one, I'm not a defensive coach, I'm the head coach, my background is defense. I look at everything overall. To me, special teams are forefront for me, just to make sure that we're sound there. We got two kickers that can really change the game with Daniel [Carlson] and AJ [Cole]. But really the depth, it goes back to the question earlier, they asked about the depth of corner, just constantly improving that room. Between wide receiver and DB's, you constantly lose those guys throughout the season, and you want to have depth, you want to feel good about that. And I think just overall up front, when the game comes down like it did last night and teams are running the ball, and you want to stop the run in certain situations, a four-minute, or say we got the ball down the to the red-zone and you want to run it in, you want to finish those drives the right way. And those are the things we want to improve on. I know Tom [Telesco] sees it the same way. But to act like we're going to sit there and flip this roster over the next 48 hours, that's not going to happen. A lot of the guys are going to be on our practice squad and that make our 50-man roster here. Like everybody in the league, there's going to be anywhere from five to eight players that know there's going to be change, and that's going to happen throughout the season, just constantly rotating that bottom part of the roster."

Q: Quick follow up on the on the cornerbacks, do you feel like Brandon Facyson is going to be somebody that you can count on to start the season? And if not, do you feel like those reserve and backup answers are there on the roster right now or maybe that'ssomething that you have to look outside the building?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, we got to get Brandon [Facyson] on the field. I can't even evaluate him because we haven't had them out there. So, it's just tough, and it's put a lot of these younger corners out ahead. It's good forthem in preseason and training camp to get reps, but I'm not a believer ofthrowing young corners out there early if they're not quite ready. So, it'd be good to get Brandon [Faycson] healthy."

Q: How aggressive do you see yourself being on the waiver wire this week?

Coach Pierce: "If we can get better, then we can get better."

Q: Ramel Keyton, another guy that kind of came alive there in that last drive. We saw a lot of that in training camp. How pleased were you to see 82 show up the way he did?

Coach Pierce: "I mean, yeah, we threw the ball a lot, he had eight targets. But no, man, it was really good to see because if you remember last week, he had one go off his fingertips, didn't quite make it. And he made some really, really tough catches last night. Maybe not the best ball placement he wanted, but two drill, I mean, he showed up and he was active, and you really felt him. And he's a very talented player, I think he's still trying to find his way in the pro game, and I think it was good last night for him to go out there and really showcase that in a critical situation in the game to now it's either tied up or we win it. Obviously, we kicked the field goal, but I think he's a guy that we had our eye on early, especially in off season program. And some other guys kind of stepped up. You kind of forget about him a little bit, because he doesn't make a play or two here. And then last night, like we asked those guys to really step out and make it tough for us over next 48 hours.

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