By now, in a normal NFL year, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and his coaching staff would have met every one of the 90 players on their roster and spent many hours on the field and in meeting rooms together. As we know, this is anything but a normal NFL season. To that end, league
Jon Gruden, Raiders coaches won’t see players till mid-June, at earliest
Mid June is not even guaranteed for teams to get together. We’ll see. Depends on the state and even the county restrictions.
Nonetheless, the teams that can expedite new players’ learning will have an advantage. Gruden and staff will have their work cut out. It’s one thing for a player to learn the offense or defense via Zoom. It’s another thing to go full speed executing those plays on the field.
Another reason for not turning or churning through a roster every off season. Continuity will be an advantage this year.
Ghost, as I understand it, the league is going to try to have all the teams follow the same rules so that those in states/locales that loosen restrictions sooner don’t get a “leg up” on those that take longer.
As a season ticket holder, this whole situation feels surreal. I see photos and video of that shiny new stadium daily and wonder if I will be able to be there when the first game(s) are played in it.
I do believe the nflpa will have something to say about it too.
I saw a brief statement say they have not agreed to anything as far as returning until they know the players will all be safe.