Raiders Finally Have a Young Defensive Tackle to be Excited About

Do the Raiders finally have a young player emerging at defensive tackle?

We are just two weeks into training camp, and the Raiders haven’t played their first preseason game, but every indication to this point is that second-year defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway is a player the coaches are very excited about going into the season.

Hemingway was a fourth-round pick in last year’s draft, and despite playing well at the end of his rookie year (4 sacks in 5 games), there wasn’t a lot of hype around Hemingway in the offseason.

But just ahead of training camp, buzz started to pick up around Hemingway and ESPN’s Ryan McFadden wrote about that dynamic in his column at the start of the week.

“The second-year defensive tackle has frequently played with the first-team defense since the beginning of camp,” McFadden reported on Monday.

“The Raiders have alternated reps with Benito Jones, Jonah Laulu, Adam Butler and Thomas Booker IV. When it comes to Hemingway, he has been a consistent presence up front and has made the most of the opportunity. Hemingway has been effective in the run and pass game, showing off the traits of a potential impact player as a 3-technique. Teammates have raved about Hemingway.”

McFadden followed up by posting on X that all of Hemingway’s reps he has witnessed to this point have been with the first team.

That’s no small statement considering coaches tend to rotate players around this time of year.

Ryan McFadden on X (formerly Twitter): “Maxx Crosby, Kwity Paye and Tonka Hemingway have been a consistent presence on #Raiders front four throughout camp. If I’m not mistaken, all of Hemingway’s practice reps have been with the 1s. They have alternated first team reps with Adam Butler, Jonah Laulu, Benito Jones and… / X”

Maxx Crosby, Kwity Paye and Tonka Hemingway have been a consistent presence on #Raiders front four throughout camp. If I’m not mistaken, all of Hemingway’s practice reps have been with the 1s. They have alternated first team reps with Adam Butler, Jonah Laulu, Benito Jones and…

Raiders’ first unofficial depth chart released

It might not mean a lot in the second week of August, but the Raiders’ first unofficial depth chart shows Hemingway and Adam Butler as the two starting defensive tackles going into the first preseason game.

Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers said Hemingway’s place on the depth chart is something that stood out to him.

“We’ve seen Tonka continue to get that recognition from his team, earned awards during the offseason. He looks like he fits the part. He looks like he’s comfortable in that role with the ones in between Maxx Crosby and Adam Butler. I just think that there’s a lot to like about Tonka Hemingway,” Myers said on Tuesday’s Locked on Raiders podcast.

“I really do appreciate the way that he finished his rookie year. He didn’t play in a whole lot of games, but still had four sacks from the interior of that defensive line. So there’s a reason why the Raiders didn’t go out there and invest in a defensive tackle or a true nose tackle early in the draft. Clearly, they liked what they had in their room, and they weren’t big or real high on the ones that were available in the draft.. so Tonka Hemingway, clearly, they feel good about him.”

x: @raidersbeat

What stood out on the Las Vegas Raiders 1st unofficial depth chart

The Raiders released their unofficial first 90-man depth chart ahead of Thursday’s preseason game. We will go over what stood out the most about the first depth chart. We will talk about the Raiders run game and why it’s so important, it is a lot better than a year ago.