The Las Vegas Raiders’ first training camp practice will be held Wednesday. Here are three storylines to look for:
The injuries:
The big early training camp questions will be about star defensive end Maxx Crosby, free-agent addition, linebacker Nakobe Dean and rookie cornerback Jermod McCoy. They missed all or most of the offseason sessions. The team has said they expect them all to be ready for training camp fairly early on. So, this is a key for the Raiders as they try to be as healthy as possible for the Sept. 13 season opener against the Miami Dolphins.
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The quarterbacks:
Eyes around the NFL will be on raining cap as veteran Kirk Cousins and rookie Fernando Mendoza will compete. There has been some media speculation that it may not be much of a battle because the Raiders are leaning toward making Cousins the starter. Still, Mendoza, who is expected to get some first-team reps in camp, has a chance to steal the job in training camp and in the preseason and that starts as soon as camp begins.
The kicking battles:
There will be many camp battles other than at quarterback, including at wide receiver, the offensive line, the defensive line a nd in the secondary. But the kicking battle is also key. The Daniel Carlson era is over and this competition will be one of the biggest in training camp this year. The competition between veteran addition Matt Gay and heralded undrafted rookie Kansei Matsuzawa AKA The Tokyo Toe will be worth watching on a daily basis.
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