Tuesday in Southern California , the Las Vegas Raiders started training camp in Costa Mesa. In other words, football is back, and this offseason is different for the Raiders. They have one of the best rosters they have had in some time.
But, training camp is where the real work gets started. It's where the team starts their 2024 season, because now, every week, they will have football. The pads aren't on yet, and won't be till next week, but this is where the real work begins.
Right now, it's all practice until the preseason comes in a few weeks. And when the preseason comes, that's when the football games get played, and that's when it gets even more intense. And for the Raiders, they will have a pretty intense preseason as well.
Training camp is a chance to see who has improved, position battles going on and how they are playing out, how players do in their new roles, and even the rookies' first taste of football with the entire team. So, it's pretty important, you could say.
For the defense, you have a lot of players on the Raiders who are young and hungry and are looking to make a name and a case for themselves in training camp. One second-year defensive tackle is looking to show why he was drafted on day two.
Byron Young, the run-stopper out of Alabama, didn't play much last year when he was a rookie. At Bama, he was a guy who was excellent at the run game, but really could use some work in his pass rush. Since being in the league, he has been working effortlessly.
Young only played 99 defensive snaps last season, which is good for 25% of the total defensive snaps played. In short - he didn't play much at all. But, maybe that was because of what the team was seeing at practice. Either way, he was behind guys like Adam Butler, John Jenkins, Bilal Nichols, and Jerry Tillery. So, he wasn't seeing the field hardly at all.
Because of him being such a high pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and not seeing the field, fans have already given up on him. But, this training camp is showing that he may have made a huge jump.
According to Levi Damien of Raiders Wire, Young was getting first-team reps on Friday, as John Jenkins was out and not at practice. Now, sure, Jenkins was out and that's why he was getting first-team reps, but that means that even if Jenkins was there, Yioung would still be getting second-team reps, which is far better and higher on the depth chart than he was last season.
So, he has obviously made some kind of jump, and that's great to hear. If the Raiders can find another guy to help them up front, that's always good.
Related: Three position battles to watch during 2024 training camp for the Las Vegas Raiders
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