From Raiders Training Camp: Coach Josh McDaniels

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels spoke moments ago from here at training camp, and we have it all for you.

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders are in their fifth week of training camp, and with one preseason game left this weekend, the intensity is ramping up.

Coach Josh McDaniels spoke from here at training camp practice moments ago, and we have it all for you. You can watch the entire press conference and read the transcript below:

Coach Josh McDaniels 

Q: As you're putting together your roster, how much goes into a coach and general manager's mind of: "This is a guy who might develop into something into the future. We probably can't cut him and get him on a practice squad." How much of that goes into just this year? 

Coach McDaniels: "I would say a lot, because you're trying to think of what's best for the team now. You're also trying to think about what's best for the team as we go forward. You can't just do everything in a short-term window. And so, we know that there are some young players that are developing that ultimately, they are not what they're going to be yet, but you have to make an educated decision on whether or not you feel like through continued work and effort from the player and the coaches, that that will change for the better in certain ways and ultimately impact the team. Obviously, some of that has to do with the construction of the salary cap, cost, etc. So, there are a lot of different things that go into it. Some are trying to figure out how you can put together your best 69 or 70 players to work with, continuing to work with guys on the practice squad. So, certain decisions you try to do the best you can on those too. Nothing's ever a sure thing when you release a player and try to get him on the practice squad, but that's basically what this next so many days is about, is trying to figure out how do we put the best group of guys together that we can continue to work with through the course of the season, develop, understanding that a number of those guys that start on the practice squad will ultimately eventually play for us, as they did last year. We saw a number of guys like that in that role eventually contribute in multiple ways on our team last year. So, a lot that goes into it, it's not a simple thing." 

Q: It's always a tough day on cut-down day, there are feelings and all that kind of stuff involved. But this year in particular, as you're formulating thoughts on that and everything, it feels like there are going to be some difficult cuts with some good players who might not be able to make the 53-man roster. Do you kind of get that feeling that this is going to be one of the more difficult ones? 

Coach McDaniels: "I think it's always difficult. There's a human side of that. Regardless of who you release, they've done a lot of work. They put a lot of effort, time, energy into competing and trying to do the best thing for the team and trying to improve themselves. So, there's a tremendous amount of respect that's involved with all of our players, regardless of whether they make the roster, we put them on the practice squad or ultimately they go somewhere else. You have a tremendous feeling for those guys because of all that they've done to try to help you and your team be better. So, I don't really think -- it would be unfair for me to sit here and say this year's decisions will be harder than last year's, because I kind of look at them all -- they're all not fun to go through at the end of the day, because like I said, there's a human element to it. The goal for us will be always to try to make every one of them difficult. Because we've added competition in every room at every spot. And so I hope we want to keep 80 guys, and not there are 47 who we like and we're trying to figure out who the other six are. I don't think we're going to be in that boat. I think there's going to be a number of players we would love to keep, as I mentioned, that's kind of go where it goes into the 53-plus 16, 17 extra guys where you're saying: 'How can we construct this thing, so we have the best group of players going forward.'" 

Q: How much does it change with the third quarterback? Coach McDaniels: 

"I mean it's it depends on whether you feel like that's a necessity in a specific week or a game. Again, if you carry a third quarterback on the roster, then you have the ability to do that, obviously. It doesn't really affect you if you don't have one on the roster. So, some teams will choose to do it, some teams won't. We've chosen to do both things in the past where I've been and last year. So, we'll see how it kind of unfolds. But I think each team will make their own decision. I think one of the reasons why the rule was put into play, obviously was a very unique situation, uncommon. We all know that. So, I don't know that everybody will overreact to it and then carry three guys just because of what happened last year." 

Q: Real quick on that because I think you have to designate who that No. 2 is, or do you feel as a coach that if you have three quarterbacks and you have two that are on the sidelines, it might be a gut feeling like in that particular game, what the best option might be? You might have a young guy who you're building for the future, but also maybe a veteran like in your case where in the middle of a game that might be the best option to go to? 

Coach McDaniels: "There's no question that you have to figure out exactly how you feel based on the week and/or the situation. It wasn't the same rules, but long time ago, we had [Doug] Flutie and [Matt] Cassel. And Doug was a veteran player obviously, and Matt was a young player. So, you're making choices based on how you would feel about what happens in the third quarter versus if we had an entire week to practice, etc. So, you have to make decisions based on the information you have, and it might change. It could change from one week to the next or one month to the next based on what we do at practice. Because again, we've said before, like the competition won't stop for us, we'll continue to work and practice and everybody will get repetitions during the season also for that reason." 

Q: I want to ask you about your first and second round picks. Obviously we haven't seen a whole lot from Tyree [Wilson], but he's back on the field. What have you seen from him that you like? And also Michael Mayer, describe the progress you feel like he's made from rookie OTAs to where he's at now? 

Coach McDaniels: "Tyree [Wilson] is doing well. We're excited to kind of continue to move forward here. He got a handful of individual reps last week, got a couple of one-on-ones as you guys saw. And then yesterday we were able to kind of move forward into some team stuff, and now will be pads. So, it's kind of progressing the way we wanted it to, and we'll keep being smart and diligent following the direction of the medical people there, but he's doing great. Excited to continue that process with him. And Michael [Mayer] is just learning every day, a sponge, works really hard. You guys got to talk to him yesterday, I mean a great attitude, really a quick study in terms of some of the things that you need to be able to do well. Tight end is a tough position to play right off the bat and do everything the way that it needs to get done at a winning level. Because you have to run block, pass protect, run routes, get open, difference between man and zone, different coverages, read the safety -- there are a lot of things that go into that, so he's hard at work at it, making progress every day." 

Q: What does it say about Michael Mayer, the way he responded after the first rough day in pads and how he's come along since then? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, you can't really be physically tough unless you're mentally tough. So, he had an experience that some would call it fun, some would call it educational, some would call it not so good. But that's part of the NFL, you go through it. I'd rather it happen in a practice than a game. I thought his response that day was really good, didn't let it get him down, didn't walk around with his head down. So, we're all going to get the short end of the stick every once a while in this league. There’s really good players on both sides of the ball on every play, so you're going to win some, you're going to lose some. But he's very resilient, tough and has had a great attitude since he's been here." 

Q: Mayer mentioned that at Notre Dame -- I am sure this is pretty typical for college -- the plays were one or two words. I know that in college, there's a time limit on how much you have to work with players on that level. So, I'm sure that plays into it. But are you cognizant of that? Understanding what the learning curve might be not just for him but for everybody? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, there are a lot of teams who don't even have words because there's somebody on the sideline that is showing them signals or poster boards or pictures or whatever it is. So, we've been battling that for years now. Just relative to the National Football League being more about huddling and play calls, etc., I think there's a demand for that in our league relative to the -- look I'm all for being simple, but if you're too simple, you're going to get your butt kicked. So, there needs to be an element of sophistication involved with the game to some degree. I'm not saying overdo it, but to some degree. So, we've dealt with that. I remember when we drafted Jimmy [Garoppolo], I think that was his first huddle and in many cases sometimes their first snap from center. So, this has been upward of 10 years plus, relative to college football kind of heading in a different direction. So, we've had to navigate that I'd say with every rookie class we've had on both sides of the ball, because sometimes, like I said, there's no huddling." 

Q: Is there any update on Chandler Jones? 

Coach McDaniels: "No, again we have I'd say a handful of guys who are getting closer. I think he's in that bucket. So, he's working through just trying to get right. Again, we had a stretch, a number of days in pads that we were allowed to be in pads. So, there's probably six, eight, 10 guys here who are continuing to work through it. So, hopefully we're getting closer." 

Q: When you look at the process of building a team and you see veterans and young guys, is there kind of a balance that you look for or is it just kind of a feeling out type process? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I think there's probably that in every room, competition wise. I think you have to consider all those factors, it's not easy. Dave [Ziegler] and Champ [Kelly] I know are going to talk to you guys tomorrow, and there's a lot that people -- you can always kind of go through a bunch of different scenarios, and there's certain things that based on how long you have the player under contract versus somebody else who might not be. If it's like this, it's an easy decision. If it's close, it's harder. So, always trying to look, like I said, past just tomorrow and this next few months into this season and beyond, because if you're going to do the right thing for the organization, it can't just be a short-term view. So, there are no easy decisions, but all of those things will factor into it." 

Q: Last year, you were trying to teach the standard. And this year, I asked Luke Masterson yesterday about [Marcus] Epps, [Marcus] Peters and [Robert] Spillane, and he said they set the standard. With all that you tried to do, how much better is it that now Dave Ziegler has brought in free agents that know the standard and the team is setting it, you don't have to? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I think ultimately we've said from the beginning it's theirs. We can only describe what we're looking for and what we want and try to hold them accountable to a standard of performance each day. At the end of the day, whatever we end up doing ultimately will be what they want the standard to be, the way we work each week, how we play, how resilient we are, when we're behind how ready to close the game out and the second half when we're ahead. How do you bounce back from a defeat? How do you handle victory and success? All of those things, there's a standard that we'll apply. So, at the end of the day, I can stand up there and talk all I want to, but the players ultimately, they want to win. And so, it's their standard when they get to the field and they know that, and we're responsible to put them in great positions and help them win. But I think our leadership has been fantastic, and some of the guys you mentioned along with a number of other guys who have been here -- Kolton Miller, Maxx Crosby, AJ Cole, Daniel Carlson. I mean we've got a number of guys that have been really assertive in terms of helping their rooms or their side of the ball really understand what they're looking for." 

Q: Darien Butler went on IR yesterday. Was that from the game on Saturday? And then I guess how frustrating for somebody who was building the way he was to lose him? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, it was. For those guys, they work their butt off, and Darien was an undrafted guy and kind of made his way into the games last year in a number of phases and offseason kind of worked through the offseason to get better and then had a decent training camp going and then -- it's just unfortunate. We're lucky we haven't had more of them so far. But just hurts for DB [Darien Butler] that he put a lot of work into this year and was hoping for some good results here. But if I know him, he'll attack the rehab process the right way and get back after it and hopefully be ready to go next spring." 

Q: What was his injury? 

Coach McDaniels: "He's out I know. It's a season ender." 

Q: What's the latest with Josh Jacobs right now? And then also as far as Jimmy Garoppolo goes -- I don't know if we're going to talk to you again before the Dallas game -- but do you still need to see him in game action or is he good to go? 

Coach McDaniels: "I have no update on JJ, nothing's changed there. I don't know that we are going to put some guys out there again. Like I said, the four joint practices really were huge for us because there was a huge chunk of work that those guys got in those practices. It was really revealing to us a lot of things, good and bad, and we've been able to gauge a lot off of that and limit the, let's call it risk to some degree. And we wanted to get out there last week and make sure we got out there and kind of played and looked each other in the eye in the huddle, and I thought that was all done the right way with those guys. They approach it the right way. We'll sit down tonight and finalize that, but I think there's going to be some guys that won't suit up or won't play. They'll suit up but they won't play. Again, we have plenty of things to work through on the roster and at a lot of positions. So, it's going to be an important day for us but the ultimate decisions on who's going to finally play and all that, we're going to get to here shortly.” 

 Q: In today’s practice, will a group like the D-line have daily goals? And what goes into the evaluation of their practice on a day-to-day basis?

 Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it might not be like on a printed-out sheet. In the morning we have a squad meeting to kind of describe what we're going to do and what are we going to try to accomplish for the day, and then each coordinator has an opportunity to address the units that are under their control and kind of big picture what they're looking for from their side of the ball. So, I'm kind of like above that and then they're kind of zoning in on that, and then when the position coaches get their opportunity to meet with their groups, they're very specific on what they're looking for. And so, whether that be a technique or a fundamental that we need to address and improve quickly, or some type of a situation that maybe that group didn't necessarily handle as well the last time we did it -- goal line, low red zone, third down, whatever it is, two minutes. The position coach always has some real critical things that he wants to leave his group with and then usually practice will reflect that. So, when we go to our individual drills, those individual drills should reflect what the coach talked about in the morning. Then the group drills should reflect what the coordinator talked about in the morning. And then ultimately, the team drills will reflect what I talked about in the morning. So, there's your circle of life.” 

The Silver and Black return to preseason action when they play the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, Aug. 26, at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT.

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