The Las Vegas Raiders made some major changes this offseason, as we all know, and they started at the helm, adding former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant general manager John Spytek as the general manager.
This new regime has really had things rolling so far, too, with a successful first free agency period and a successful 2025 NFL Draft. Now, it's about getting the systems in place on both sides of the ball and establishing the culture. Once that culture is established, and it seems like it is, it's time to grow it a build it to make it unbreakable, something we have seen fairly often with the last few regimes.
And, to do that, nothing will be easy -- not in rookie minicamp, and certainly not in OTAs. But these guys are adapting and coming in every single day and just getting better. At this point, it's a me vs. me mentality for the players.
"I feel like if I'm not coming in here every year trying to grow, then I'm just stuck in my ways. This is an adapt-or-die business, and I'm going to always adapt. I'm going to always continually change, because these offensive coordinators in this league, they're getting smarter and smarter, and they're scheming it up every year better and better, even week to week," LB Elandon Roberts told reporters this week at OTAs.
"You've got to be able to adapt, you can't be stuck in your ways. Seeing new things and seeing just new concepts across the league - I mean, even Chip [Kelly], man, I'm in the lab and I'm like, 'He will not get me tomorrow. He and Geno [Smith] will not get me.' But it's exciting. It's exciting, and it's good. It feels good to be able to say, 'Dang man, the offense got us today. We've got to do this, we've got to do that,' because you get to winning and you think this or you think that."
When you add players like Roberts, who have the mindset that he does, that is what creates the culture that you want your team to have. Guys like Roberts, who have played for teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers under Mike Tomlin, understand what it means to have a culture. And, he understands what it means to take these moments in the offseason so seriously.
Even though it's OTAs, Roberts and the Raiders as a whole have a mentality that they have to get better every single day. And that's what it's about. Yes, it's OTAs, but it's a huge part of prepping for the season.
And, Roberts has it down, as does the rest of the team.
