The Oakland Raiders are hoping a new coaching staff, led by Jack Del Rio, will bring a refreshed culture and revamped identity to their franchise.
Not since the 2002 Super Bowl loss to the Buccaneers have the Raiders boasted even some semblance of relevancy as compared to the rest of the NFL landscape.
Tackle Donald Penn has only been with the organization for one season but he already sees great things for Oakland now that Del Rio is onboard and young franchise quarterback Derek Carr is entering his second NFL season.
"The guy comes in at five o'clock every morning," Penn said recently while appearing on Late Hits with Tom Pelissero and Alex Marvez on SiriusXM, via Raiders.com. "Nobody knows that. He gets in at five o'clock every morning. He's there before the coaches. The coaches see him in the meeting room and he's already going over film looking at stuff, and he has a grasp of this offense.
"Derek Carr is a leader."
Carr showed ample promise during his rookie year, displaying a veteran approach to the game that took many by surprise. His statistics weren't great, but if he can build on them in Year Two, the Raiders may finally have a true franchise quarterback again.
Penn, who has appeared in 128 career games over eight NFL seasons and seen and dealt with many coaches, believes Del Rio has brought a refreshing perspective to the Raiders.
"Every coach is different. Jack brings a different vibe. He brings a different mentality, and when we're practicing and stuff starts going bad, Jack hates to say it, but he has to sometimes, 'We're not going to be the old Raiders. We're going to be the new Raiders.'"
While the proof is very much in the pudding and the Raiders will remain the same old Raiders unless and until they show something different, if Penn is to be believed, Oakland has a few significant building blocks already in place for their organization-wide turnaround in Carr and Del Rio.
