German_Force » Josh Ferguson Jersey

NAPA Eddie Yarbrough Jersey , Calif. (AP) Jon Gruden targeted Paul Guenther as his defensive coordinator in his return to Oakland even before he got the Raiders job, believing his aggressive defensive scheme was just what the team needed to reverse years of bad play.

Guenther’s task has been even harder than originally thought because he is still waiting to get Oakland’s best defensive player in camp.

Star edge rusher Khalil Mack skipped the entire offseason program and now extended his holdout into training camp as he seeks a long-term contract commensurate with the skills of one of the NFL’s top defensive players.

”I really can’t worry about that right now,” Guenther said Sunday after Oakland’s first padded practice. ”I’m just trying to coach the guys who are out here. Obviously when he gets here, if he gets here, he’ll be an exciting piece to add.”

There is no indication of when that time will come as Mack’s camp and Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie have been quiet about negotiations. Mack is entering the final season of his rookie contract that is set to pay him $13.8 million and Oakland would have the option of using the franchise tag next offseason if no long-term deal is reached.

Mack is one of several prominent holdouts this summer, joining players like Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, Seattle safety Earl Thomas. Pittsburgh running back Le’Veon Bell is also staying away from training camp but is not a holdout since he has not signed his franchise tender.

”He’s working,” fellow edge rusher Bruce Irvin said. ”I talk to him every day. He misses it. You just know how it is. He’s working his butt off and when he gets in here he’ll be ready.”

Mack has been one of the top defensive players in football since being drafted in the first round in 2014. He was a first-team All-Pro at both defensive end and linebacker in 2015 and won AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2016. He has 40 1/2 sacks in four seasons and leads the NFL in QB pressures with 185 1/2 since entering the league, according to SportRadar.

Free-agent acquisition Tank Carradine has taken over Mack’s role at defensive end on the base defense but is not an accomplished pass rusher. The Raiders hoped to upgrade that rush by drafting defensive end Arden Key and tackles Maurice Hurst and P.J. Hall.

Key and Hurst have shown good bursts early in training camp as the Raiders prepare without Mack.

”We can’t worry about who isn’t here because when Khalil gets tired, when he goes out of the game, the guys who are here have to go into the game and play while he is tired,” Irvin said. ”He rarely gets tired Youth Fabian Moreau Jersey , but when he does those guys have to be ready. We’re focused on getting these young guys ready and that stuff will take care of itself.”

Irvin is also taking on a bigger role in the pass rush after spending his first two seasons in Oakland as an outside linebacker who also rushed the passer.

Irvin dropped into coverage on almost one-third of pass plays last season, according to SportRadar. But Guenther plans to use him almost exclusively as a defensive end in his defense.

”I just think his best gift is going forward,” Guenther said. ”That’s what he should be doing each and every down. Instead of playing linebacker and dropping into coverage, we have to utilize his and everybody else’s talents the best we can.”

NOTES: CB Gareon Conley has missed the past two days with a hip strain sustained on the first day of practice. … RB Jalen Richard left practice with an undisclosed injury.

—

Jason Witten sat in a room with his new teammates going over video of his latest performance.

It wasn't much different than what he did for 15 seasons as a tight end with the Dallas Cowboys. But instead of being one of the faces of perhaps the NFL's most high-profile franchise, Witten holds one of the most prominent television jobs in the sport: lead analyst for ESPN's "Monday Night Football."

Witten is approaching his new role in similar fashion as he did his old one, when his comprehensive film work made him the second-most productive tight end in NFL history.

"That's where you really learn and grow, the ability to go back and see it," Witten said. "Sometimes it's good and you're like we need to build on that. Sometimes it's not so good and you're like, man, I'm so disappointed that was a bad rep.

"No different than a route that you run and that's not what you're looking for. What gives me confidence is diving into that process and doing it with guys who I enjoy being around and they have the same mindset."

Witten is part of a brand new announcing team for ESPN after Jon Gruden left the analyst chair for a second stint as Oakland Raiders head coach. Witten joins play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore, who switched jobs with Sean McDonough, who went back to college games; on-field analyst Booger McFarland; and the only returning member of the team in sideline reporter Lisa Salters. The group makes the regular-season debut Sept. 10 when Gruden's Raiders host the Los Angeles Rams.

This team was put together following an exhaustive search that featured auditions with about 13 analysts. The tests were thorough Ray Nitschke Jersey , featuring dinners at Tessitore's house to see what kind of off-screen rapport could be built, as well as practice games in a studio.

Tessitore and producer Jay Rothman were in agreement that the team of Tessitore, Witten and McFarland was the best. Then began the process of making that belief come true.

The offseason has been spent doing rehearsal games in studios and at stadiums; holding film sessions; having countless discussions and text message exchanges; sharing dinners and drinks; and broadcasting two preseason games.

All in an effort to build the chemistry that will make for a smooth telecast each week.

Tessitore said he's already spent more time with this team before the start of this season than he did in an entire season with his college crews.

"In all my years of broadcasting, I only know one way to be on a crew, and that's you're now my brothers and my family. That's the only way I know it to be," Tessitore said.

"That means that you're at my house for dinner, we're hanging out together and we're working out together, drinking wine together, traveling together, texting each other, communicating and we know each other's families inside and out, and we're serving each other. That just gets extended to the broadcast when the red light turns on. That's critically important to me."

This new group of announcers is being thrust onto one of the biggest stages in broadcasting. "Monday Night Football" has featured some of the industry's titans over the years: announcers Howard Cosell http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/darren-woodson-jersey , Al Michaels and John Madden; Super Bowl-winning coaches and quarterbacks Gruden and Joe Theismann; and Hall of Famers Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf and Dan Fouts.

This crew starts with far fewer accomplishments. Tessitore has had several roles at ESPN for 16 years, doing boxing, horse racing and college football and basketball. This is by far his highest-profile job.

McFarland started at the SEC Network in 2014 and has done only a handful of games in his career. Witten is a television rookie following in the footsteps of his former Cowboys teammate Tony Romo, who went from the field to the broadcast booth to great acclaim last year as CBS' lead analyst.

"He did an incredible job," Witten said. "As a friend, I'm proud of him. It's not easy for him to have that success. Although I recognize I'll always be compared to that and that's what's going to happen, I really don't try to compete from that standpoint."

The new crew will also have a bit of a new approach with McFarland, a former NFL defensive tackle, serving as an on-field analyst from a mobile crane that will be positioned about 10 feet off the ground at the line of scrimmage.

McFarland will have a desk with monitors showing replays, stats and a live look into the broadcast booth, where Tessitore and Witten will have a camera on McFarland to make it a seamless team.

"I kept using the words extension of the booth Ibraheim Campbell Jersey ," Rothman said. "How can we give Booger the resources that Jason has up top to truly be an extension of the booth, and how can we make that work and not worry about the orchestration and stepping on each other?"

Rothman came up with the idea while shaving in May and immediately presented it to his technical staff. Four months later, McFarland did his first game from the "Booger Mobile."

He said this setup allows him to contribute as a full-fledged third man in the booth rather than a sideline analyst needing permission to get on the broadcast, and gives him a better appreciation of what's happening on the field.

"It's an entirely different feel," he said. "You can see the play, but there's a difference between seeing it and feeling it. Feeling a guy's speed and power is just a different deal. It's actually been pretty cool. Once you understand the mechanics of it, it's worked pretty well."

With so many new parts, the crew understands this will be a work in progress, but the members are excited to see how it all develops.

"There's still a learning process for all of us," Rothman said. "We'll be a lot different in Week 8, a lot different in Week 15 and a lot different in Year 2. All for the good. But it's been fun."

Authentic Womens Donte Jackson Jersey