The Las Vegas Raiders are preparing for an unusual season amid the Covid-19 pandemic. With the clock ticking and training camp around the corner, general manager Mike Mayock is trying to navigate in uncharted waters to the best of his ability.
Ever since he joined the Raiders front office, Mayock has shown leadership and good decision making. Last year, he managed the Antonio Brown fiasco as best as he could. This season, he tackled the draft in the midst of once in a century circumstances. So far, the NFL has planned to start the 2020 regular season without delay, and the general manager is doing his part to make the process as smooth as possible.
It isn’t just the pandemic
To make matters difficult for Mayock, this is the Raiders first year playing in Las Vegas. Putting aside the fact the team had to relocate in the middle of a pandemic, the team will have to train under the summer heat of Sin City. Oakland can get pretty hot, but it doesn’t compare to Las Vegas’ heat. The former NFL Media personality said in an interview with ESPN Las Vegas that he consulted with people that have coached in Las Vegas before. More specifically, he mentioned he talked to former UNLV coach Tony Sanchez.
“We’ve had some conversations with people who have coached [in Vegas] before, like Tony Sanchez who was at UNLV, and just asked about what time we have to be done practicing, or what can we do outside?The advantage we have, as opposed to UNLV, is that we have the grass fields outside, we have the indoor climate-controlled filed, and we have a stadium.”
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Mayock Has Logistics Already Figured Out
In the interview, Mayock points out that the team’s practice schedules will constantly change. They will practice at different times and different locations throughout training camp.
“So, we really have three different places that we can rotate through, and based on what we heard, if we’re going to be outside, we probably have to be done by 10, 10:30 in the morning in July and August. I think we can figure that out because we have three different surfaces to practice on, but the harder part is we don’t even know what the deal is with training camp and the acclimation period.”
On the other hand, Mayock concedes they aren’t done yet preparing. The Raiders and the NFL as a whole are in a fluid situation. New restrictions can come up at any moment and they will have to adapt on the fly. In the meantime, Mayock and Raiders brass are doing as much as possible to have some kind of resemblance to previous seasons.
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Top Photo: Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal
