Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Man, the Las Vegas Raiders had a wild roller-coaster of a season in 2021, overcoming all types of off-the-field turmoil and front office turnover to make the playoffs.
This season, you get the sense things have settled down for this controversial NFL franchise.
Well, for now, anyway.
The National Football League’s first training camp to officially open shop was right here in Las Vegas, where veteran Raiders players checked in with the franchise at its Henderson headquarters.
The rookies reported Monday and the veterans showed up Wednesday, when the media covering this well-known brand of an NFL team tossed questions out to offensive lineman John Simpson, defensive end Maxx Crosby, linebacker Denzel Perryman and wide receiver Hunter Renfrow.
First up was Simpson, a guard picked by the Raiders in 2020 out of Clemson.
Simpson was polite and safe with his answers.
“It’s high expectations every year for every team” was a typical quip from the young lineman.
“It’s definitely high energy everywhere we go in this building,” Simpson said.
After Simpson fielded questions for eight minutes, the popular Crosby walked into the Raiders media room at the team’s headquarters. The media room is on the side of the impressive-looking Raiders home base not too far from the St/ Rose Parkway-Starr Avenue intersection. You don’t even have to enter the building as media folks entered a side door.
The good-natured Crosby downplayed the preseason hype around the Raiders.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Crosby told the Raiders media. “Preseason hype is preseason hype.”
Crosby, who can get quite intense on game day, fielded questions for 13 minutes before he left the room.
“After the Bengals (playoff game), I was still doing my normal routines,” Crosby pointed out.
Perryman, the 240-pound linebacker, followed and he’s a funny dude.
The first day of training camp was like “the first day of school, all over again.”
He laughed at a question about his contract, quipping, “I knew that was coming.” Perryman said his agent on the contract case.
Perryman’s Q and A lasted a total of five minutes before he exited.
And if there’s ever an average-looking guy who can easily double as a church choir buy it’s the humble Renfrow, who had a breakout year as a receiver in 2021.
Renfrow talked about “focusing on being unselfish” and how he relies on his religious faith to stay grounded.
And at 11:31 AM, the media session was over.