Two Raiders rookies ready to roll much earlier than expected
Last year, the Oakland Raiders were cautious with the use of their rookies. Besides Amari Cooper, who was a day one starter, most of the rookies were brought along slowly. Eventually we saw guys like Mario Edwards, Jr., Clive Walford, Neiron Ball and Ben Heeney all get playing time but most were held back for at least a few weeks to start the year.
I had previously assumed we would see the same this season, but now I’m not so sure. Obviously it was just the first preseason game so we can’t take too much away from it, but one thing that jumped out at me was the usage of rookies. Some like Shilique Calhoun and Cory James, played exactly when I expected them to as the first line to come in after the starters exited the game. But Jihad Ward was in as a starter and James Cowser was used as a rotational guy while the starters were still in the game.
AROUND COVER32
Fantasy Football: 32 sleeper picks for 2016
Preseason: One player to watch for each team
Underdog: Daniel Brown wants to prove John Harbaugh right
Hard Knocks: Takeaways from Rams debut
Raiders News: Top takeaways from the Raiders vs. Cardinals preseason game.
Raiders News: Concerns about the 2016 Raiders.
Washington’s snaps with the starters was expected. The Raiders would like to use at least two backs on a regular basis this season and Washington is the favorite to be Latavius Murray’s primary backup. But I was surprised about Ward and Cowser. Especially Cowser. I thought Ward would enter the game at the same time that Calhoun and James but definitely didn’t expect him to start. I thought Cowser would come in around the same time as the others so to see him used that early is very exciting.
Plus, not only did Cowser and Ward get in the game early, they both looked good. Neither necessarily jumped out in a big way, bad or good. Both looked very solid and comfortable playing at that level. As the preseason progresses, I would expect to see both Cowser and Ward to continue to see significant snaps early. And if they do well with those snaps, we could see them integrated heavily into the week one match-up against the New Orleans Saints.
Again, it’s the first preseason game and should be taken with a grain of salt but it appears that some of the rookies are working to prove that they are worthy of getting playing time much earlier than originally expected.
The post Two Raiders rookies ready to roll much earlier than expected appeared first on Cover32.
