Jack Del Rio has yet to coach a single game for the Oakland Raiders but he is already impressing the team's most important players.
Quarterback Derek Carr and linebacker Khalil Mack, both entering their second seasons, praised Del Rio's coaching style thus far as the Raiders open up their offseason conditioning program. Del Rio, who played 11 seasons in the NFL at linebacker and has nine years of head coaching experience, brings some veteran experience to a franchise that has been down-and-out for far too long.
Carr notes Del Rio's playing experience as a big plus and is also impressed with the coaching staff he has put together which includes Ken Norton Jr. (defensive coordinator) and Mike Tice (offensive line coach). Del Rio is from the Easy Bay area and his familiarity with the area is another source of optimism among his young signal-caller.
"The first thing I thought is, 'Oh, he played before,'" Carr said of meeting Del Rio. "Really, with our whole coaching staff, we'd win a lot of fights with our coaching staff. The first thing I thought was that, and then the second thing was, 'This guy really cares about this organization.' That was really my one takeaway. I said I could really tell that this guy cared about me as a person, and I could really tell that he cared about the Raiders winning Super Bowls. That's what I got from it. It wasn't him just leaping at another head coaching job or anything like that. He really wanted to be here....I just want people to want to be here. I want people that want to be here and want the Raiders to win, and he's definitely one of them."
Del Rio's zeal also struck a chord with Mack, who is eager to learn from two former NFL linebackers in Del Rio and Norton.
"You can tell that Jack really cares," Mack said. "When it gets real, when the guys go off and the fire starts and the intensity goes up, you can sense that he's ready for that moment. I'm ready to play for him."
But will Del Rio's feel good vibes be enough to turn the Raiders around? The team hasn't enjoyed a winning season since 2003 and failed to land an offensive weapon for Carr in free agency. Although Oakland has some building blocks in place, Del Rio and general manager Reggie McKenzie still have a lot of work to do to restore this team to respectability.
