The Raiders played their final preseason game on Friday night, and the stage is now set for the team to make final adjustment to the roster.
It’s been an interesting month of August for the Raiders and now that training camp is officially over, Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter shared his thoughts on the team as they gear up for the regular season.
Honda said he has very few concerns with the defense but gave the Raiders a conservative training camp grade because of a quarterback competition that seemed to run out of time before the team could feel great about either option. Gardner Minshew was named the starting quarterback on Sunday, but most would agree he didn’t perform better than Aidan O’Connell during the preseason.
“Overall, as a team… with all these questions at quarterback, and this is who they wanted. They could have [gone] and drafted someone, they could have [gone] and signed a different free agent quarterback. This is what they wanted, so I think you give it a ‘C’ grade. That’s how I would grade camp,” Hondo said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast this week.
“Anytime you’re coming out [of camp] and you’ve got quarterback questions, I don’t think you can give your camp anything other than a ‘C’ grade.”
Hondo is one of the more optimistic beat writers around the Raiders, so a ‘C’ grade from him is notable. His concerns are mirrored by the majority of the fan base at this point.
The Raiders didn’t play any of their presumed starters against the 49ers on Saturday night, but it was a good close to the preseason for several players believed to be on the bubble. That will be the talking point around the team until the roster is cut to 53 players by 4 PM ET on Tuesday.
x: @raidersbeat
Now we can only hope that Minshew surprisingly SHINES as QB 1 and that AOC , who didn’t seem to acquire more desirable QB1 traits, stands ready in reserve. Raiders would have been well advised to not consider Minshew’ s contract and go out sooner in camp when nether Minshew or AOC stood out, to sign or draft a another choice
Sine “Mr. Insider” Hondo is giving out grades, where did he get his teaching credential from.
I feel better than I did last year with Jimmy G and McDaniels that’s for sure . I liked what I saw out Carter Bradley last night , kid was flinging it . Minus the end zone pick , but I hate that play call … to risky
I agree with Karl and put up or shut up time starts in two weeks and then we will see. On a separate note, “someone” NEEDS to kick Tyree Wilson in the *** and get him jump started. I believe that this single move could be a serious difference maker between a so-so and an exemplary season for the Raiders. I believe that Antonio Pierce needs to pull a Bill Parcels on Tyree Wilson. If any of you are old enough to remember, when he was in New England, Bill Parcels called Terry Glenn, “Miss Glenn,” and Terry Glenn responded with a 92 reception season. After the season was over, Coach Parcels was asked about his “Miss Glenn” comment, in reference to Terry Glenn, at the beginning of the season, and Coach Parcels responded, “…if he has 92 catches next year, we’re going to call him Miss America.” In my opinion, Coach Pierce needs to challenge Tyree Wilson similarly.