When the Oakland Raiders opted to draft Derek Carr in 2014, they were passing up on players like Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles. At the time it was seen as a risk since Carr was flying under the radar coming out of Fresno State, but it has certainly paid off as Oakland believes they have found their "guy" for the future. After showing strong potential in 2014, Carr is entering his second year with bigger expectations and doing everything he can to meet them.
Carr is taking a page out of several other quarterbacks in the league and gathering his wide receivers for workouts prior to training camp beginning. While Geno Smith gathered his teammates in Chicago and Mark Sanchez worked out with Eagles players in San Diego, Carr and the receivers of the Raiders met up in Bakersfield to get some chemistry going before heading to training camp in just a few days.
According to CSNBayArea.com, Carr along with Michael Crabtree, Rod Streater, Andre Holmes, Mychal Rivera and Kenbrell Thompkins all gathered for workouts over two days in order to get some pre-camp work in. Carr and the group have some added expectations on their shoulders with hype growing around the unit and the quarterback wants to make sure they all live up to it.
"It was a great refresher for everyone, and the timing couldn't have been better," Carr said, via CSNBayArea.com. "It was two weeks before camp and just far enough away from the last minicamp for guys to find it useful. It was a refresher course that should really help the start of training camp itself. This way, the mistakes won't happen on day No. 1. We already fixed that stuff."
No present was first-round pick Cooper, but he and Carr have met up previously since OTAs and mini-camp ended in order to get some work in together. Carr told 95.7 The Game that Cooper is one of the best receivers he has seen. The quarterback took time to praise the former Alabama star's work ethic along with his knowledge of the game and techniques. The two are expected to pair up a lot come the regular season.
"His work ethic is second to none," Carr said. "I was throwing with him as soon as mini-camp was over so we can get more reps in, and our plan was to throw a couple more times, but he texted me that night. He said, 'hey, let's throw at least three more times. I need to get this one route right.' Just him telling me that kind of stuff, it blew my mind."
With the wide receiver rotation set, the battle for the starting running back will be the main storyline for the Raiders in training camp. Trent Richardson and Latavius Murray will be competing to be the leading rusher for the Raiders. Head coach Jack Del Rio told ESPN that there really is not one frontrunner at the moment as he is excited to see the progress of both rushers come camp time.