Bad news: Good will miss start of season
Mayock says guard out two months after back surgery
NAPA, Calif. — The Raiders will be without their top two left guards to start the season.
Denzelle Good underwent lower back surgery this summer and will miss about two months, general manager
Mike Mayock said Friday. The team also won’t have Richie Incognito, whom the NFL recently suspended two games for violating its personal conduct policy.
Incognito can practice and participate in the preseason before his suspension begins. The Raiders anticipated the league discipline, which was announced July 12, when they signed him May 28.
At that time, Good had just begun missing action. He suffered a disk injury May 21 during the first day of organized team practices.
These developments leave Jonathan Cooper as the sudden favorite to start Week 1 at left guard. The Raiders signed the former 2013 No. 7 overall pick July 15. They would become the fifth team for which he’s started in five years, having played for the Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys and, most recently, the Washington Redskins.
The Raiders traded left guard Kelechi Osemele to the New York Jets in March.
Slow your workhorse
Coach Jon Gruden pumped the brakes Friday on the wide, wide expectation that Josh Jacobs will be the Raiders’ feature back in 2019. Take that talk for what it’s worth on camp’s report day.
Expectations shouldn’t change. The Raiders drafted Jacobs with the No. 24 overall pick and believe he’ll comfortably lead their backfield in touches. To Gruden’s point, however, the rookie also must prove he can shoulder such a role.
Jacobs had 140 touches last season and 299 for his career at Alabama.
“You have to see how much the man can eat,” Gruden said. “How long can he stay at the table? He hasn’t been given anything. He won’t be the feature back until he earns it. He’s got to prove he can get up time and time again. These are car crashes, some of the hits these guys take. You got to be one tough guy. …
“When you are tired and sore and beat up, you’ve got to pick up a blitz, you’ve got to beat a linebacker on a route, and then you’ve got to make a third-and-1 to win the game. So there’s a lot of maturity that is going to have to take place because he’s such a young and inexperienced player, but he’s a great kid and got a lot of talent.”
Notable
The Raiders are scheduled to practice from 9:15 a.m. to noon Saturday. Quarterback Derek Carr and Incognito are among the players expected to meet afterward with reporters.
Gruden said linebacker Vontaze Burfict will be “the straw that stirs the drink” for the Raiders’ defense in 2019. “He’s going to be a big part of this defense, calling it, making adjustments. We’re hoping Brandon Marshall can be an associate of his, and when you put Tahir Whitehead into that group, we feel like we have improved a position that we have really struggled at over the years.”
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Gehlkennfl on Twitter.