Add another name to the list of players fired up about Jon Gruden’s presence in Oakland.
Karl Joseph spoke with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Scott Bair on Wednesday and talked about his new coaching staff – and indirectly about his previous coaching staff in the process.
“It’s been great so far,” Joseph said of his time under Gruden. “I think where we’re at right now compared to where we were a year ago, it’s like night and day. The competition between everybody in the defensive back room alone is way up from where it was last year. Guys are competing, the coaching staff are really tight knit where there is not too many gray areas in what they’re coaching. Everybody’s on the same page.”
Joseph isn’t the first to talk in recent days about “gray areas” in last year’s scheme under the Raiders’ defensive coordinating trio of Jack Del Rio, Ken Norton Jr., and John Pagano.
In fact, mixed messages from the coaching staff became one of the staples of the Raiders failed 2017 season – which was one of the reasons owner Mark Davis pursued Gruden as hard as he did (and paid him $100 million).
As for Joseph, it was rumored that the new coaching staff was a little unsure of what they have in him, but Joseph believes he is headed for a big year under defensive coordinator Paul Guenther.
“I don’t even feel like I’ve scratched the surface yet,” Joseph said. “I feel like I have so much more room for improvement in almost every area of my game. I think I’ve improved as far as the mental part this offseason.”
“I’m excited about this season, man. People haven’t even seen the real Karl Joseph yet.”
twitter: @raidersbeat
Let’s hope we haven’t seen the real Karl Joseph