It’s hard for the Raiders to expect much from their 2017 draft class at the moment, because they’re nearly all on the sidelines.
Via Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Raiders were without five of their rookies Tuesday when they came back from a day off, more than half of their nine-man draft class.
“It looked like a veteran rest day except it was mostly rookies,” coach Jack Del Rio said. “It was not by design. We’re making progress. . . .
“My feeling on it is that we cherish every rep that we get. We’re going to work our butts off to get them out there whenever we can. Ultimately, it comes down to the player being ready to go. We’re doing everything we can to do the right things by our guys.”
The good news is none of the injuries seem to be long-term, but it must be annoying since they were hoping for a few of them to play significant roles early on.
First-round cornerback Gareon Conley (pictured) hasn’t practiced at all during training camp because of shin splints. Second-round safety Obi Melifonwu and fourth-round offensive tackle David Sharpe have missed multiple practices, while third-round defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes and seventh-round offensive tackle Jylan Ware were new to the list of the walking wounded.
It’s unclear how many of them will be able to play when the Raiders open the preseason Saturday against the Cardinals.