Jon Gruden Tipped The Raiders Current QB Depth Chart

Credit to Jeff Smith of 247sports.com for catching this, but just before Jon Gruden sent the players home for the summer, he basically tipped the Raiders depth chart at quarterback.

“[Hackenberg] has been working on changing his stroke, his passing motion, and I think he did that,” Gruden told media members after the final day of minicamp.

“We just didn’t have enough reps to take a good look at him. Since we were further along the road with some of our other guys, we didn’t have the space. It is hard enough to get Connor Cook enough reps, let alone a fourth guy.”

No other way to interpret that comment than to assume that Cook is third on the depth chart.

If you’ve been following reports on the Raiders OTAs and minicamp, it isn’t a great surprise that E.J. Manuel has held onto the no. 2 spot (so far). But Gruden was careful to point out last week that the competition is still wide open.

Jon Gruden on Raiders’ depth chart at QB: “Right now, it’s Derek Carr, and it’s wide open for that.” Says that Connor Cook is elevating his play despite some “rough edges.”

— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) June 12, 2018

Talking with his State of the Nation co-hosts last week about a pattern Carr was having trouble connecting with receivers, Raiders beat writer Vic Tafur narrowed down exactly which throws Cook was struggling with during minicamp.

“One thing I noticed was Connor Cook was having trouble with all the patterns,” Tafur said. “Holy smokes! He had a rough week.”

Sounds like Cook better pick up the pace a little between now and when training camp gets underway.

twitter: @raidersbeat