LAS VEGAS — Raiders general manager Mike Mayock took a sideways glance at his depth chart Saturday evening.
“Never met him …”
“Never met him …”
“Never met him.”
Mayock and coach Jon Gruden have not met several of the free agents that the team signed this offseason, but there’s a decent chance that changes in the next eight days. The pandemic has not caused the NFL to delay training camp, and veterans are due to report to camp on July 28. Raiders rookies are scheduled to check in Tuesday and quarterbacks and rehabbing players are slated to show up at the team’s new facility in Henderson on Thursday.
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Of course, they all need to be tested for COVID-19. And the league is still updating and changing guidelines and negotiating with the players union at the last minute.
Raiders officials are a little frustrated but obviously acknowledging the severity of the virus. No one knows anything, and if they do, they don’t know how long that will last.
“We have about 27 different plans and we are waiting for the league to tell us what to do,” Mayock said in a telephone interview.
While getting to the football part of the equation hinges on the COVID-19 conditions and protocol, it’s still obviously the point of it all. Once, and if, the Raiders get to the practice field safely, Mayock thinks that the team has more competition on the defensive side than last year.
He is looking forward to one position battle especially.
“I am most anxious to see the secondary. … We’ve got some good young talent and I am anxious to see who competes,” Mayock said. “It’s awesome to have (Prince) Amukamara because he brings a veteran presence, but we have a bunch of really young corners and safeties that we think have some talent.”
Second-year corner Trayvon Mullen would appear to be at the top of the depth chart — “We feel really good about Trayvon,” Mayock said — with first-round draft pick Damon Arnette trying to learn quickly and push Amukamara at the other spot. Veteran Lamarcus Joyner is at slot corner, with second-year players Isaiah Johnson and Keisean Nixon flashing some potential.
At safety, the Raiders signed former Packers and Browns safety Damarious Randall, 27. Mayock has been a fan since Randall’s days at Arizona State.
“I had him as the No. 1 free safety coming out of college and I think he has movement skills and he’s been a corner and a safety, so you gotta like the fact that he can run,” Mayock said. “I think he is invested in a prove-it type year and we’re in a really good situation because we really like Erik Harris.
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“I thought he had a solid year last year, too.”
Randall and Harris are fighting for the starting safety spot opposite Johnathan Abram.
And don’t forget about Jeff Heath, who started 13 games for the Cowboys last season.
“Heath has started a lot of games in the NFL, but he comes from a different angle, though,” Mayock said. “While Damarious was a first-round pick, Jeff came from a small school (Saginaw Valley State) and wasn’t drafted. He has worked for everything he’s got.
“He is an accomplished special-teams player and he can get you lined up on the back end. He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s played both free and strong safety. We expect him to come in and compete.”
Harris, in a phone interview last week, said bring it on.
“Our locker room, each year, looks more and more like an NFL locker room,” Harris said. “We have depth at every position and pushing each other is going to make us all better. I think we have a great group in the secondary.”
(Photo: David Eulitt / Getty Images)
