Raiders camp preview: What will be the ‘Hard Knocks’ effect?

NAPA – The lights and camera phase of the Raiders’ 2019 season are underway, courtesy of the HBO Series “Hard Knocks.”

In terms of action, we’ll get our first peek at the newlook Raiders Friday during their first training camp practice on the grounds of Redwood Middle School behind the Napa Valley Marriott.

Rookies and selected veterans report Tuesday, with the full squad arriving Thursday. Coach Jon Gruden will talk that day, having already dealt with the presence of NFL Films, which helps produce the HBO series.

Camera crews are on site in Napa and have been to the East Bay home of quarterback Derek Carr.

“They came and just wanted to see us playing with the kids, talk about how everyone is doing, ask how coach Gruden and I get along,” Carr said in an interview Friday. “You know, the basic stuff.”

Gruden, reached by phone last week in New York City on a promotional visit benefiting youth sports, sounded excited to get things rolling until the subject of “Hard Knocks” came up.

“I didn’t volunteer for this, and neither did (G.M.) Mike Mayock,” Gruden said. “We’re going to do the best we can and be professional, but this isn’t our idea ... it’s been placed on our plate by the NFL and so be it.”

Camera and production crews for “Hard Knocks” don’t receive an open invitation to film and record at their whim. The Raiders are expected to be more stingy than most teams when it comes to eavesdropping on position meetings and the reactions of players who have been released. Gruden will be wired for sound, but not all the time.

Gruden hopes to use the show to promote football on the grassroots level.

“I think we’re going to be a little bit different than some of the other teams that have been on Hard Knocks,” Gruden said. “My No. 1 goal of this whole process is to get kids excited about the upcoming season and for some of them to go out and give it a try.”

Exactly how the presence of “Hard Knocks” affects the Raiders will play itself out over 19 practices between July 27 and Aug. 19.

Bay Area News Group/tns Count on lots of interaction between Raiders coach Jon Gruden and quarterback Derek Carr when HBO’S “Hard Knocks” comes to training camp in Napa.