Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast: Training Camp Update No. 29

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast offers you our 29th training camp update, focusing on training camp coming to a conclusion.

Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby, Coach Antonio Pierce / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders are in the midst of their fifth week of training camp and are preparing to host the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium on Friday in the last exhibition of this season.

Silver and Black Coach Antonio Pierce has announced that Gardner Minshew is the team's starting quarterback, and the team is moving on.

None of the starters will play on Friday night.

Moments ago, we concluded the last practice of the week and, subsequently, the official training camp.

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast offers you our 29th training camp update, focusing on how the training camp concludes.

We cover a myriad of issues in this latest podcast, and you can watch it below:

Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce spoke Wednesday before practice. Below is the transcript for you.

Q: I'd like to ask you about Brock Bowers, please. Is there anything of concern here long term or do you expect him to be ready by the first game of the year?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, just precautionary. He got a foot injury, and we just want to protect him."

Q: Is Tommy Eichenberg in that same category?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, same deal. Just trying to protect these rookies. The one thing about your rookie season is, it's a long time. These guys have been training since December, and any nicks and bruises, just as with everything, just want to make sure they're healthy."

Q: Gardner Minshew talked last night about working with the receivers more the next two weeks, especially Davante Adams who missed some time. In your mind, how important is that, now that he is the established starter, to kind of get with these guys and kind of establish something together?

Coach Pierce: "Very important. And not just with Davante [Adams], but with our entire offense. Kolton Miller as well, our left tackle came back. So, it's important for chemistry and continuity. Splitting the reps, that's over with now. It's Gardner's show and he needs to be a leader and understand what we're lacking right now, and what we're lacking is not playing together throughout the camp like most teams that have a starter from day one. So, there's a lot of work to go there. He's taking some great steps forward. They're doing it in the film room and we'll get another chance at it tonight."

Q: How is Jackson Powers-Johnson coming along? Do you think he'll play out on Friday?

Coach Pierce: "No, we'll hold him out until the first game."

Q: With starters not playing, what are you looking for from those guys that are maybe on that 53-man cut line coming up?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, we talked about it. Our theme this week was finishing. And I can even go back to the two games, right? We had opportunities in both these last two preseason games to finish, and for whatever reason we didn’t do a good job in the fourth quarter. And I told these guys, they have a great opportunity for themselves competing for a roster spot. And really, it's just not for the Raiders, it's the entire National Football League because we know that we're not going to have everybody on the roster. There will be other opportunities on practice squad or other teams, so they're competing in front of everybody. This is a big week for them, and I think it's really critical for some of the guys that we're going to play that might have two or three years in league as well to prove that they can take that next step. Because we have to continue to build depth within this team to have the team we want."

Q: I know that after Saturday you'll start kind of dialing in on the roster, but thisis your first time where you'll probably have to sit down with some players and talk about their future and have those hard discussions. Have you thought about that yet?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, to be honest, I had some tough cuts last year. In my third game against the Kansas City Chiefs, right after that with Marcus Peters, that was difficult. But it's never easy. I don't think it's ever easy telling a gentleman that they don't have a spot here. You don't want to tell them that they can't play in the National Football League. You have to keep going. Sometimes it's not your year or might not be a fit. It might be a roster number. It might be a situation where you draft the guys at that position, wherever it may be. I don't look forward to it, but it's part of the business and we all understand that."

Q: As a point of clarification for Jackson Powers-Johnson, did you say you're holding him up and he'll play in the first game?

Coach Pierce: "I'm hoping he is, yeah. I mean, we have to ramp him back up. I mean, we haven’t even had a week worth of practice out of him. So, he'll go tonight. We have some more practices next week, and then we have the Chargers week."

Q: Will he have enough time, or has he had enough time to show what he has in terms of making a case to be the starter?

Coach Pierce: "No, we haven't seen enough."

Q: Speaking of the depth, you've had some young receivers have good training camps. Is that one position where it's specifically going to be tough and you expect to see a lot of competition in the last week?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, Kristian Wilkerson has done a good job. [Jalen] Guyton's popped up. Terrell Bynum. Obviously, DJ Turner, he's good. We're good with him. But there are some other guys that have really stepped up, even in practice. And sometimes you get in the game, and it doesn't work out that way where the receiver catches the ball, and everybody says, 'Oh, he didn't do anything.’ But there's a lot of opportunities that you see in film. We've gotten 1,000 team reps of situational football to evaluate these players. And obviously, we're very talented in that room with Davante [Adams] and Jakobi [Meyers] and Tre Tucker. That fifth and sixth spot and those guys on the practice squad are going to be very vital for us."

Q: Have Phalen Stanford and Woo Governor kind of moved the needle a little bit in camp?

Coach Pierce: "I just think that's because guys are in and out of the lineup."

Q: Woo Governor got hurt yesterday is there an update on that? Coach Pierce: "I don't think he got hurt yesterday. He finished practice from what I remember. He's not on the injury report."

Q: When teams go through a quarterback battle, they can be divided, and your guys' answer isthey just want to win. What is it about the mindset of the culture you built that your guys are just all in on whoever's under center?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I told these gentlemen when I met with both of them individually the other day, I appreciate their professionalism and how they approached it. It really carried out through our entire building, ourstaff, our players, of how they conducted themselves. There was no bickering back and forth, they really cheered each other on. But it was competitive, right? Even at the end. I mean, Gardner [Minshew] goes out to there in the first practice and Aidan [O'Connell] is right behind him cheering and rooting him on. And then when Aidan got the opportunity, Gardner’s doing the same thing. So, I mean, we talked about that brotherhood and getting close together and doing what we did at Costa Mesa, and these two gentlemen are prime examples of that."

Q: Have you decided whether Aidan O'Connell is playing Friday night?

Coach Pierce: "No, he's not playing."

Q: Jaydon Grant left practice last night...

Coach Pierce: "He's fine. I wanted to tell you the answer, but you looked at me crazy."

Q: How big of a lift does it give the offensive line to get Kolton Miller back?

Coach Pierce: "I mean, it's that veteran presence. I think it's no different than what you heard Tre Tucker, Jakobi [Meyers] and all these other guys talk about when Davante [Adams] came back. When you got a left tackle with a presence and the ability like Kolton Miller – I ain't going to lie, I felt at ease yesterday watching big 74 go out there. But he's done a really good job, even on PUP, being around and being vocal. He took Jackson [Powers-Johnson] on his side and was really doing some things on the side with him, just getting his psyche and understanding, ‘Look, man, you're a rookie, everything doesn't work out the first year for you,’ and just bringing him along. But obviously, we're talking about one of the better left tackles in football and one of our better offensive players on our team."

Q: What have been your impressions of Carter Bradley as far as being a guy to develop in the future?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, the first game all he did was hand the ball off nine times and then we let him sling it last week. And he did a good job again last night, so it'll be good to see him in this first half sling it and see what he does in the third quarter as well. But I think he's done a good job of growing. Like all rookies, you have your ups and downs. And I think when you have a quarterback battle, there's not a lot of reps there. So, there wasn't a lot of opportunities for him, but he'll have a good chance to show off in two nights."

Q: Rob Leonard told me that last year he didn't even really like coaching Matthew Butler, now he loves him and can't wait to get into the film room with him. I'm curious about what you've seen from him this offseason?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I'm going to keep going to it, a guy comes in his rookie year, and they think they got it all figured out and they don't. And it takes you awhile, you don't know what year it’s going to click, right? Could be year two, might be year four. For Matthew Butler, it was year three. I think also what happened to him last year, getting cut, being on the practice squad, other guys beating him out. I mean, he came with a chip on his shoulder. And then he got nicked up a little bit in the spring, he came back and had a hell of a training camp, and he's still fighting his way on. He'll have a great opportunity on Friday night to prove himself. But the amount of work that he's put in the offseason, he was here from February all the way until the end. He didn't leave. You can see it in his body, he just needs more reps and development. But everything you ask him to do, he does."

Q: A tough day for the Little Leaguers today. I know you did a video to pump them up. Any advice on bouncing back from a loss?

Coach Pierce: "It's just tough. We ordered a bunch of hats, but we're going to keep rooting them on and we're going to be excited when Adam [Johnson] gets back here. We'll have him do some pregame speeches because I guess he's doing a good job of that with the Little League guys. But, man, hats off to those guys because when Adam first told me about it, when we went to California, I was like, ‘Okay, cool.’ I thought it was kind of cool. Then I realized how cool it was that they were going to the World Series. So, on all our televisions we've been watching and been dialed in. We were dialed in today. And at the end of the day, man, they put a great effort in and they represented Nevada well, and we're proud of them."

Coach Pierce: "Last thing, I appreciate all alumni and everybody coming out. There will be about 250 of those gentlemen out there. There's nothing like our alumni being around. Our team loves it and we'll put on one more show for them at practice.”

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