Does it count as a "competition" if one of the two parties competing doesn't even get the opportunity to showcase his talent?

But, that didn't stop The Athletic's Vic Tafur from blatantly stating on his weekly podcast that the Oakland Raiders placekicking competition is probably already in the bag, with the likely winner being undrafted free agent Eddy Pineiro.

“All the signs point to Pineiro being given the job,” Tafur stated. “It sure seems like they’ve made their minds up about Eddy Pineiro already.”

This obviously, isn't ideal for 2017 starter Giorgio Tavecchio, but it only gets worse. Tafur's statements came after Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area revealed that Pineiro was essentially the only person even attempting field goals during Tuesday's OTA session. After looking exceptional, he just kept on going while Tavecchio literally had to wait and watch.

“Undrafted rookie Eddy Pineiro was featured exclusively during a field goal drill during Tuesday’s OTA where attempts started short and continually moved further back. The Florida alum was pretty accurate – he only missed two – during this session, where he flashed a strong leg." Bair stated. "Pineiro put one attempt on the Raiders performance center roof, well behind goal posts he split. Incumbent Giorgio Tavecchio watched while Pineiro took every rep, working with rookie punter, holder and fellow Florida alum Johnny Townsend. Tavecchio fared well last year, but it’s clear Pineiro will be given every chance to earn the kicker job in 2018.” he continued.

The way the kicking situation played out this offseason literally couldn't have gone worse for Tavecchio. If the signing of Pineiro wasn't enough, it meant the Raiders had teamed the excellent former Florida kicker with his collegiate teammate and holder in punter Johnny Towsend, who was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

The Oakland Raiders are rolling through offseason practices and are gearing up for Jon Gruden's first season back on the sidelines! Want the latest news sent straight to your inbox? – Sign up for our FREE Raiders newsletter now!

Townsend and Pineiro obviously have a friendship and strong rapport, and this lines up almost too perfectly to not seem like it was planned by the team's coaching staff and front office. Pineiro nailed 17-of-18 field goal attempts during his final season with the Gators and over his two years with the team made 88.4 percent of his kicks.

This also isn't the first time we've heard a rave review about Pineiro, as Jon Gruden himself actually praised the rookie kicker when speaking to season ticket holders, courtesy of the team's official website.

Gruden: “When you talk about Eddy Piñeiro, he hasn’t missed a field goal. We watched him kick today and he made every one. The holder is Johnny Townsend, by the way who was also a Florida Gator punter who held for him [Piñeiro] in college. We felt Eddy was so good we were going to draft him in the seventh round, that’s how much we thought of this kid, and we paid him a lot of money to make sure we were going to get him as an undrafted free agent. He and Tavecchio are going to have a great battle in training camp, but when you go back to the holder, the cool thing is we do have Johnny Townsend who’s an experience holder, and has a lot of experience holding for Piñeiro, which I think is going to help him tremendously.”

While Gruden did mention Tavecchio's name (once) he had some major love for Pineiro. Is this competition already in the bag? Probably not quite yet, but Tavecchio is going to need a major push and for something to really go in his favor to really have a chance at grabbing the job over Pineiro in the next few months.