You could argue this past training camp for the Las Vegas Raiders had some of the best media coverage in years. That tends to happen when a team has lofty expectations and finds itself in plenty of offseason headlines. Among those headlines was the hiring of Josh McDaniels as the new head coach. Now that his first camp is in the rearview mirror, McDaniels briefly reflected on it recently.
Speaking with the media yesterday, McDaniels gave an opening statement in which he made sure to give credit to everyone that came out and played.
“Before you start asking questions, obviously a long process to get here, and the last few days are difficult days, we understand that – around the league, we’re not unique obviously. We appreciate the effort, the competition, the commitment that everybody that we’ve had in camp, that we’ve had all year long has shown us. We had a great group of people here.”
Those difficult days that McDaniels is referring to are the wave of cuts and trades that the Raiders had to execute. Trimming the roster down to its final form of 53 is never an easy task for a coach. McDaniels himself had relayed that message the other day, stating that some difficult decisions and conversations awaited him.
More hard work awaits Raiders HC Josh McDaniels
“This is always one of those days – or the last couple of days – (that) is a little difficult, but I think our guys handled it great. We’ve got 53 guys now and it’ll be a process. Obviously, it’ll change many times between now and the end of the season. We’re continuing to grind through this.”
There’s no doubt that general manager Dave Ziegler is at work trying to fill in the remaining roster holes for McDaniels. The Raiders parted ways with several contributors that some figured would be key components in 2022. Trayvon Mullen, Alex Leatherwood, Darius Phillips, and Alex Bars headlined the Raiders’ moves. At the end of the day, these men are professionals and as McDaniels pointed out, there’s no reason they shouldn’t have otherwise handled it differently. Also, fans should understand that the roster can change at any time, and injuries or whatnot can take place between now and Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
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*Top Photo: Official Raiders Website