OTAs offer players the chance to both meet new teammates and reunite with pre-existing teammates for the first time in the new NFL year. Players do this through organized team activities, which is exactly what OTAs stand for. However, this period is voluntary; if you don’t want to show up, you don’t have to. Luckily for the Las Vegas Raiders, all of the key veterans wanted to show up.
Day 1 of OTAs for the Raiders began on Tuesday and those who wear the NFL’s iconic silver and black uniforms showed up in bunches.
Team leader Maxx Crosby arrived at 5:40am while the sky was still dark. Soon after, other key veterans started rolling in. That includes the likes of Christian Wilkins, Malcolm Koonce, Jakobi Meyers, Geno Smith, Jakorian Bennett, A.J. Cole, and many more.
It may seem trivial, but veterans buying in and therefore putting extra time in that they aren’t required to is exactly how winning cultures are made. Of course, one winning season through the last eight years is anything but a winning culture, but building that culture first starts with baby steps such as this.
It’s nothing but a good sign.
As Kyle Brandt of Good Morning Football said on Tuesday, “It all just feels good. It feels like a commitment to adulthood. It feels responsible.”
Coming off of a four-win season in 2024, one where Las Vegas greatly underperformed as a whole, this is a team that has a lot of work in front of them. And, luckily, the veterans who younger players look at as role models are willing to put in all of the work to improve, even if it’s voluntary activities such as OTAs.
You have to like that.
From Seattle Seahawks to Las Vegas Raiders: Geno Smith and Pete Carroll continuing their unfinished business
Geno Smith is no stranger to putting in hard work, even when it isn’t a requirement. That’s exactly how he earned another shot at being a starting quarterback in the National Football League, after all.
But this time around, even he has a little extra motivation. Unfinished business, as he calls it.
“When people think about my story, coach Carroll is a big part of that. He gave me an opportunity when not many people would’ve. He saw the hard work that I was putting in, he saw the things behind the scenes that I do that allowed me to get this opportunity,” Smith said during his extension press conference on Monday.
“I’ll run through a wall [for Carroll], and he knows that. And I’ll do the same for my teammates and for this organization.”
It’s easy to see why Pete Carroll wanted to reunite with the quarterback he refers to as one of his “All-time favorite guys.” It’s equally as easy to see why veterans in Sin City are all-in, ready to get to work. Even when it isn’t mandatory.
