The Raiders will hold their first full-team workout in front of the peering eyes of the media next week, but Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie offered some insight into how the team’s most high-profile off-season acquisition — running back Marshawn Lynch — is fitting in.
“He’s been great,” McKenzie said Thursday in an interview on 95.7 The Game. “He’s been great in meetings. He’s been great on the field. He looks to be going very well as far as his progress physically on the field. So he’s doing quite nicely and we think he’s going to be a really good help on the field.
“But even that, off the field, he’s been great with the team. He’s meshed very well. He’s already well-entrenched as being one of the guys, so it’s going very well with him amongst the team.”
While it took some time before Lynch officially agreed to terms with the Raiders and they then executed the trade with the Seattle Seahawks to bring him to Oakland, McKenzie said ultimately the process was pretty smooth.
“I had no setbacks thinking that he was not going to be able to get here,” McKenzie said. “My communication with Seattle was great and the communication with Marshawn’s people, everyone indicated that he wanted to play and that’s all we needed to know. The fact that he wanted to be a Raider, that was just icing on the cake. We went through all the different processes of it and we got it done at the end. We got it done and he’s excited and so are we.”
McKenzie offered other updates, including one on Derek Carr, during his appearance with J.T. The Brick:
— McKenzie sounded almost giddy about the condition of Mario Edwards Jr., who saw last off-season impacted by a neck injury and then was limited to just three games (including the playoff game) after injuring his hip in the preseason.
“He’s extremely motivated,” McKenzie said, “because he wants to show the league that he’s a dominant football player. Not just a solid football player, but that he’s dominant. He’s healthy, he’s strong, he’s in a good mindset so he’s ready to roll and we are extremely anxious to see him get going in the season.”
Edwards had the look of being an impact player on the Raiders defensive line during his rookie season. He had 42 tackles, two sacks and three forced fumbles while playing defensive end and kicking inside to tackle on sub packages. If the 2015 second-round pick can regain his form, he’ll be a needed boost to a defensive front looking for additional playmakers to supplement Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack.
— McKenzie said he sees fifth-round pick Marquel Lee as a guy who could be a starter at middle linebacker.
“We definitely think he has the potential to start,” McKenzie said. “He’s a long ways away from that. We haven’t begun to put the pads on so a lot will be determined during training camp and preseason, but so far, he’s looked very well.”
As for waiting until the fifth round to address arguably the team’s biggest need, McKenzie again said it was all about reading the draft board. Lee was the best one available when they picked in the fifth round (No. 168 overall) and they had other players rated higher than a linebacker when they made their first four picks.
“We (weren’t) just going to go out of our way to get a linebacker when we had better players on the board,” McKenzie said.
— The Raiders used their first two picks on secondary players — cornerback Gareon Conley and safety Obi Melifonwu — and neither are guaranteed a starting job. The Raiders have veterans Sean Smith and David Amerson already at corner and Pro Bowler Reggie Nelson at free safety with 2016 first-round Karl Joseph at strong safety.
But both top picks are guys who bring speed and cover ability to the secondary in a league that increasingly forces teams to use packages with five and six DBs.
“We knew we needed some depth and we needed to play matchup football,” McKenzie said. “So we made sure that we were able to do that and we felt like we got some really good players at those positions. At both safety and corner, we felt like this is a passing league and we’ve got to be able to cover.”
As for Conley’s legal situation, McKenzie said he was not able to provide any updates.
“We just let the legal system, that whole process play out,” McKenzie said. “There’s nothing further that I can add to that, so we’re just going to wait its course and see it take place.”
