Friday the Raiders rookies, both drafted and undrafted, hit the field for the first time since signing with the team. And so too does first year head coach Antonio Pierce. All of whom are probably some mixture of eager, anxious, excited, and nervous for their journey to begin.
Piece spoke to the media prior to practice about what he expects from his newest young players this weekend.
“Learning. We’re in Elementary School,” said Pierce. “How we do things the Raider way, Raider culture, mindset, how we play football, how we practice, how we study. They’re doing that now in the classroom. They’re bright eyed. I asked them to be here five minutes early, they’re here about 20 minutes early. They’re sitting around in the room by themselves, I looked around and thought there was a meeting going on and they’re just ready to go. Bunch of eager players and I think for me just to get to know one another. We talked about trust, accountability, and process with these guys yesterday. Have to continue to grow accustomed to not only the coaches, but the players on our roster.”
For all the learning that will be happening over the next few days for these young players, many of them will also be fighting for a spot on this team. Pierce knows that experience as a former undrafted free agent himself who had to break onto an NFL roster to begin his career.
“We got 32 Raiders here. I don’t care if you’re the 13th pick or the guy that’s trying out. You got a Raider uniform on, we’re gonna treat you accordingly. They earn the right to stay here, they earn the right to get more reps. Just excited to get them here. Just good to get a full roster. 90 guys on the roster now we can kind of like put this thing together, right? Start to build this team into what we want it to look [like] for the ‘24 season.”
The Raiders drafted eight players and signed 17 undrafted free agents. There are also six first year players (were here last year, but don’t have an accrued season in the NFL) and UNLV LB Fred Thompkins.
In most cases, there will be at least a handful of players who are trying out for the team, but those players will not be listed on the official roster. Should they impress and make the team based on their play over this rookie minicamp, they will bump one of the current players off the roster. That’s where this becomes more than just a learning exercise and a fight for some of these players’ NFL lives.