The Raiders begin their veteran minicamp Tuesday _ their first time taking the field as a team under new coach Jack Del Rio. In an interview with Greg Papa and John Lund on 95.7 The Game, Del Rio addressed the progress of his team, his thoughts on the roster and upcoming draft and the acquisition of former 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree.



Del Rio and selected Raiders players will be available to the local media Thursday.

A transcription of Del Rio’s Tuesday interview on 95.7:

Q: What’s the plan for tomorrow for first veteran minicamp?

JDR: It’s the first day to get out there on the field with the staff and the players and we expect 100 percent participation and we’ll get to work. We’ll begin. We’ve been two weeks now with just about everybody in attendance, working hard and getting themselves ready. The coaches can’t go on the field during that phase. It’s called Phase I and we’re not allowed on the field with the guys. Tomorrow will be our first opportunity to get on the grass with the players and begin.

Q: Extra special because it’s first-step of implementing team you want to have?

JDR: Yeah, it is. We’ve been busy at work, changing the culture, changing the way awe do things, the way we operate at every level of the organization. They’ve had a couple of weeks of kind of being exposed to some of the things we’re going to do with the strength and conditioning staff and they’ve been meeting with the coaches and we’ve sought to change some of the things we’re doing with dieting and how we schedule and how we do things, and all those things have begun, but tomorrow we get on the grass. We get to roll the footballs out and begin to implement some of the schemes and actually interact with the players and the coaches on the field getting after it.

Q: Regarding scheme, Bill Musgrave will implement some things Derek Carr did at Fresno State, what type of tempo will the Raider offense have?

JDR: We want to be able to play at whatever tempo we deem appropriate. They’ll be opportunities to slow it down to a snail’s pace. There will be opportunities to put the pedal down and go fast and in between. We want to be able top lay at the speed that we choose. Bill’s had experience going real fast and he’s had experience going real slow and being real deliberate. I think there are times in the game when you want to be able to take the air out of the ball and there are times when you want to put the pedal down and turn up the tempo. We want our football team to be able to handle both of those tempos and it’s good for us defensively as well.

Q: How do you get your offensive lineman ready to play from a conditioning standpoint, taper down? Philadelphia has a tapered-down line. How do you get offensive lineman ready to play?

JDR: We’ll get ’em in shape. Our guys need to get in shape across the board. I’d say every position. We’re looking for every position to be better going forward and we’re going to demand more. It will start with the conditioning aspect of it, the mental preparation of it. Regardless, you’ve got to be able to play fast and you’ve got to be able to put consecutive plays together to be any good at this game. We’re going to work hard at that aspect of it and that should not be an issue. We’ve got bigger guys, and we like that. We like size in our front, we like size in the offensive and defensive lines, and that size just needs to get in shape.

Q: How do you feel about what’s been added to the roster?

JDR: I think we’ve done a real solid job of strengthening the roster, in particular up the middle, and we feel like there were some opportunities and we’ve taken advantage of those opportunities. I don’t think anybody goes into it and gets every single person they’d hoped to, but I would say that a large percentage of those people that we went after, and really, anybody that came into our building on a visit, we were able to get signed. I think it was very positive. I think when guys came in, they felt a positive vibe in the building, guys that are excited about being a Raider and joining this organization. We’re happy to have some of those guys and add to the competition we’ll have beginning tomorrow.

Q: Have a new center in Rodney Hudson, a new middle linebacker in Curtis Lofton . . .

JDR: Yes, and Dan Williams, a defensive tackle up front, he’s one of the top interior defensive linemen as well. Rodney’s a really good player.. Played twice a year against him twice a year the last several years. Being able to take him and weaken a division opponent and strengthen ourselves, that was a good get for us, and obviously Curtis is a guy who comes in and brings some of that veteran presence. He’s been there before. He understands what it looks like, what needs to happen for a defensive to fit it up and understand where they belong and play fast together. Those are really good gets for us. And there were many others. We ended up strengthening ourselves in a lot of different areas and free agency, if you have a set roster, you don’t have to do as much. But obviously, we had a need for competition at several levels of this team and we sought to go out and address that through free agency.

Q: How involved are you in the draft process?

JDR: I’m very involved. Watched a lot of tape. Very involved in meetings. We’ll continue that process. It’s been my experience the more inclusive the better. I think Reggie does a great job of bringing the guys together, all the scouts spend a lot of time putting the information together, coaches, getting their opinion and gathering all that information so we can make good decisions for the Raiders.

Q: Assume 100 percent participation means Michael Crabtree will be there. Your thought process bringing him in?

JDR: It’s great to have Michael on board. Obviously he’s a guy that’s been a productive player on a really good team the last several years and comes in here to join our organization and become a good teammate and to find his way and create a role for himself. He’s a guy that has an outstanding catching radius. A real good understanding of how to get himself open and find some of the soft spots in a defense, how to go up and make the contested catch and those kinds of things. We felt good about being able to acquire Michael. Obviously, I was on record saying it earlier in the offseason. I don’t believe the cupboard is bare. I think when teams struggle and have bad records I think every one wants to dismiss everyone on the roster and claim there isn’t any talent. I think we have some talent on our roster. We’re going to develop that talent, we’re going to demand from that talent, and then we’ll add to it. We’ll add some pieces along the way, but we feel good about what we’ve been able to assemble and we’re looking forward to getting started with it.