Count Klint Kubiak among the Las Vegas Raiders anxious to instrumentality a six-week break. A proverbial intermission for respite and refuge earlier helium leads his archetypal grooming camp.
“I’m conscionable looking guardant to going home, being a dad, and being astir my kids, my wife, and my household and rejuvenating that way,” the manager said Thursday greeting during a 15-minute call-and-response astatine Intermountain Health Performance Center.
“It’s truly important for myself, for our full staff, for our players to spell recharge. I don’t privation our guys to get burnt out. I privation our guys to beryllium excited to travel to enactment erstwhile grooming campy starts.”
Because minicamp is over.
Kubiak says the Raiders person improved passim the people of their offseason program, reserving judgement and rightfully truthful until they don their pads during grooming camp. Still, he’s contented with the civilization he’s installed and the competitiveness up and down their roster.
Allow backmost Kirk Cousins to explain: “He brings that consciousness of urgency that the large coaches thin to bring, right? And it’s surely not a laid-back atmosphere, I’ll conscionable accidental that, and I deliberation that’s a positive, but I deliberation that comes with being a caput coach. … We’re not retired present conscionable benignant of having fun. Like, it’s work, and you consciousness that successful the locker room, pre-practice, the mode guys’ mindset is, and conscionable guys are truly focused, are going implicit their worldly 2 oregon 3 times, due to the fact that they don’t privation to beryllium the feline who made the intelligence error. So, I deliberation that’s a truly affirmative thing, but it’s not a state club.”
With that successful mind, present are 5 takeaways from Kubiak’s last quality league of the spring:
Fernando Mendoza
Kubiak said the rookie backmost has been “diligent” amid his pursuit of improving “the things we’ve asked him to amended on,” including playing nether center. Mendoza fielded shotgun snaps for nationalist champion Indiana and is expected to grip snaps nether center, from the shotgun again and successful pistol — successful which the quaterback is successful shotgun with the moving backmost a fewer yards down him — alignments.
Still, Mendoza remains without a declaration arsenic 1 of 2 unsigned first-round draught picks, but Kubiak didn’t explicit overmuch concern.
“I’ll fto (general manager John Spytek) grip that,” helium said. “I’ll conscionable support coaching him.”
Kirk Cousins
Two days aft Cousins touted his improving wellness — astir 3 years aft tearing his close Achilles tendon — Kubiak seemingly agreed with his assessment, referencing his last 4 games past season. In said games for the Atlanta Falcons, Cousins passed for 876 yards and 7 touchdowns against 2 interceptions, completing 62.6% of his throws.
Kubiak said “we’re counting connected him this season” and agreed with the 15th-year quarterback’s appraisal that helium isn’t successful Las Vegas conscionable to mentor Mendoza and fourth-year backmost Aidan O’Connell.
“We ne'er inquire anybody to beryllium a mentor,” Kubiak said. “If you’re connected the roster, it’s to play and to play truly good for the team. So, that’s the quarterback’s job, each 3 of them, is to get acceptable to play and triumph games astatine a precocious level, and past erstwhile everybody’s doing that, they’re pushing each other, it creates competition, and the full roster gets better.”
Nakobe Dean
The fifth-year linebacker, signed this summertime distant from the Philadelphia Eagles, didn’t enactment successful the offseason programme aft missing the two-day minicamp. Asked if his absences were injury-related, Kubiak stopped abbreviated of confirming arsenic overmuch — alternatively alluding to the likelihood and affirming the value of his wellness travel camp.
“Nakobe has been present each day. He didn’t practice, but each injuries and things similar that, I don’t privation to speech astir this clip of year. We conscionable privation to get each our guys steadfast to grooming camp. That’s truly the astir important thing.”
Jermod McCoy
Akin to Dean, the rookie cornerback didn’t enactment successful minicamp, having missed past play with a torn ACL. Subsequent issues person lingered this year. All according to plan, per Kubiak, confirming McCoy is expected to signifier erstwhile pads travel connected for grooming camp.
He’s a first-round endowment but a fourth-round pick.
“I expect him to practice,” Kubiak said. “I expect him to beryllium connected the field, and it’s going to beryllium a moving people with him. But we drafted him for a reason, drafted him to play, truthful I expect him to vie successful campy and get plentifulness of reps.”
Six-week interruption earlier grooming camp
Kubiak sent the Raiders into summertime with a elemental connection helium shared Thursday morning: “You tin ruin an offseason with 40 days away. You enactment each that enactment successful this clip of year, if you spell station up connected the couch, each that enactment is for naught.”
That said, Kubiak noted helium expects a ample contingent of Raiders to stay successful Las Vegas done the commencement of grooming campy to enactment retired astatine their headquarters.
“I deliberation guys privation to beryllium here,” Kubiak said. “We person the champion of the champion facilities, trainers, value staff, and I cognize it’s hard to permission and find amended than this place. So, Mr. (Mark) Davis gives america the resources, and past our players privation to stay, and that’s a large vantage to our organization.”
Contact Sam Gordon astatine sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon connected X.
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