For Jacobs, Raiders come before rest of the story

IALAMEDA, Calif. T makes sense that Josh Jacobs wants to wait on the whole Hollywood screen play part of things. Why begin casting roles when much of the story hasn’t been written, though the idea someone would beat out Frank Caliendo for the part of Jon Gruden as coach of the Raiders is just silly.

The journey Jacobs has traveled has all the elements for a compelling tale on the

big screen, the character and desire and conflict, but his is more a wish to exist in the present.

Which means he probably doesn’t want to tell Gruden he’s analyzing a script more than his playbook.

“I don’t know how it came about, honestly,” Jacobs said recently during the team’s mandatory minicamp. “I was just being hit up by bigname producers, like three or four of them, about doing a movie. I don’t know if I’m going to do it or not. I feel like there’s perfect timing to everything, and I just don’t feel like now is the right time.

“It’s taking the story into a deeper level. It’s saying some things that I have left out that would probably be shown in the movie, and I don’t know if I want to do it. I haven’t really thought about it too much.”

There is a reason for that, and it begins in the Raiders’ backfield, as the rookie Jacobs is expected to be the starter when the season opens against Denver on Sept. 9.

His voyage to a first-round

Senators teammate Mike Hoffman — have said he’s one of the league’s best players at using their stick.

That shows in the numbers as Stone had 122 takeaways this season — the fourth-most in NHL history. He also had the best scoring-chance percentage (56.08) and high danger scoring-chance percentage of his career (58.11) despite spending most of his season with the Senators, who finished with the league’s worst record.

“He’s always been, in my opinion, the smartest player on the ice,” his brother Michael Stone, a defenseman for the Calgary Flames, said. “He knows where to be, when to be there and gets there when he has to.”

Mark Stone’s heady play should give him a chance to break the Selke

drought for wingers even though he doesn’t take faceoffs regularly like O’reilly and Bergeron. And if he does, that’ll be a victory for his position.

“You look at the people who’ve won that award, they’re some of the best players in the league,” Stone said. “I don’t feel any pressure at all. I’m just here to have fun and whatever happens, happens.”

Get ready for laughs

Last year’s NHL Awards featured several emotional moments, as the victims of the Oct. 1 Route 91 Harvest festival shooting, the Parkland, Florida, school shooting and the Humboldt Broncos bus crash were honored.

NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer said this year’s show at the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center will strike a different tone

with host Kenan Thompson of “Saturday Night Live.”

“This year we’re going comedy,” Mayer said. “We think (Thompson) provides that sense of humor and also that passion that makes the show so much better. I think he’ll be memorable.”

The show will also feature a local touch as NASCAR driver Kurt Busch and Las Vegas-based sports bettor James Holzhauer — fresh off his record-setting run on “Jeopardy!” — are scheduled to be presenters.

“A lot of times you try to seize on pop culture and interest and who’s making news and he certainly was in the news every day,” Mayer said of Holzhauer’s inclusion. “It just fit perfectly.”

Ben Gotz can be reached at bgotz@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @ Bensgotz on Twitter.