Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast Secondary Questions, DL Rotation, QB Competition and Much More

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast episode discusses the Silver and Black secondary questions, the possible defensive line rotation, the quarterback competition, and much more.

Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby, DT John Jemkins / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

HENDERSON0N, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders have officially completed their first OTA and Mandatory Mini-camps of the 2024 season, and all attention is turning to the NFL Training Camp to be held in Costa Mesa, California.

Under the guidance of head coach Antonio Pierce, the Silver and Black have united as a team, from the coaching staff to the players. Their collective optimism and confidence are soaring, and the bar for their performance, if possible, has increased.

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast episode discusses the Silver and Black secondary questions, the possible defensive line rotation, the quarterback competition, and much more.

You can watch the entire podcast below:

Coach Antonio Pierce addressed the media after the mandatory mini-camp, and here is a brief transcript of his comments.

Q: Adaptation has been a big part of your career, going from Mt. SAC through your journey to the league and then after the league media to coaching at different levels. Where do you get that ability to adapt so easily? Coach Pierce: "Part of my upbringing, just kind of how I grew up and where I grew up at, being an only child, fending for yourself, finding different ways to get out of situations. But more importantly, just having the right people around me. Even when I made bad decisions, you always had that one person that was trying to lead you the right way. And I think my professional career kind of really formed me a lot. When I got to the Washington Commanders, three head coaches, four D-coordinators, four linebacker coaches, four strength and conditioning guys, I mean every year was something new, new language. But that never stopped my number one goal and my number one purpose, to play football and to play at a high level. And then I went to New York and stability, continuity, what it was like to win, what pro football looked like from other pro players, that all that all helped me out. And there have been days like when you have those veterans like I had as a rookie with Darrell Green, Bruce Smith, the Jessie Armstead's of the world, they helped mold me to be the player and to train, to study, to prepare to be a professional football player, and that's something that I really believe in, and that's reflected in our staff."

Q: You've been spending a lot of time with the offense during OTAs and in these last few days of minicamp, and I'm curious, from your vantage point, now seeing the offense being installed and being on that side of the field and being in all those meetings, how that process has gone, literally learning a new system from ground zero? Coach Pierce: "Yeah, this is the good part, because I really do take off my coach's hat and now become a player and how it's being taught, how's it being presented, how's it coming across, are we being repetitive, are we going too fast, are we changing up, are we using all the resources that we have in this building to teach and learn? It's been very good, because I can actually put myself in their shoes. But more importantly, when we have those staff meetings at night or in the morning, things that we talk about and seeing our different assistant coaches talk like we talked about empowering them earlier, I think it has been critical for all of us because having one voice talk all the time installing can get boring. But when you change up and you have a guy like Luke Steckel that comes in here and has got a lot of juice, a lot of energy. And then you get James Cregg and he's all wiry and it's like, 'Goddamn.' So, you bounce the ball, and then you've got Cadillac [Carnell Williams], and he's got that southern drawl and you slow it down. So, now these guys are on their toes, it's not just sitting here getting bored, right? Because at this time of year, again, it's voluntary. So, to see those guys in there and just have that attention span was really critical for me. And obviously, that's why I'm sitting there because I want to make sure we're getting it the right way."

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