Through the first week of training camp, the Las Vegas Raiders have come out relatively unscathed. However, they have faced some issues surrounding COVID-19. The team is happy with their kicker Daniel Carlson and even released his backup Dominik Eberle at the start of camp.
Shortly after he was released, Carlson was put on the COVID-19 list, leaving the Raiders without a kicker. The team was quick to bring back Eberle to fill in while Carlson gets healthy.
This is likely just a short-term move but Eberle could make a case to be kept on as the backup. His biggest hope would be to make the practice squad and stay there for the duration of the regular season. Carlson shouldn’t be out for very long so Eberle will need to make the most of his brief time back with the team.
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Jalen Richard Back at Practice
The Raiders have had strong attendance to start training camp but were missing a key player throughout the first week. Backup running back Jalen Richard opened camp on the COVID-19 list, which caused him to miss practices. Fortunately, he’s back on the field for Las Vegas, according to ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.
With Theo Riddick retiring, the Raiders need Richard even more. He’s the team’s best pass-blocking running back and is still dangerous in the receiving game. He’s also one of the longest-tenured players on the team. Las Vegas will be happy to have him back.
Jon Gruden Sounds off on COVID-19
The Raiders have been running into some issues with COVID-19 at the start of camp but head coach Jon Gruden is happy with his team so far. He revealed that almost the entire team is vaccinated outside of “four or five” players. Despite the NFL encouraging players to get vaccinated, Gruden understands that everybody has differing views.
“We’re not going to totally disregard where this virus is and the variants that are out there,” Gruden said last week. “But I’m not an expert on the virus; I’m just trying to get our football team ready to play. I’m going to do the best I can to carry out the protocols that the league has and what our medical people advise and we will do our very best.
“Every man, every woman, every person has their own opinion on what they want to do. There’s some people that are strongly opposed to getting the vaccination. There’s people that think it’s a slam dunk — I should get it right away as soon as I can. I can’t speak for everybody. I respect everybody’s opinion and I don’t want to create any controversies or any distractions. We’re going to do everything we can to get our players what they need to help them be successful.”
It’s unclear which players aren’t vaccinated quite yet but it could become apparent when the season starts. The Raiders are fortunate to have some of the highest vaccination rates across the NFL.
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