Raiders report: Defensive lineman earns starting role following trade
Thomas Booker IV has had less than a month since he was traded to the Raiders to prove he deserves to play a key role on defense.
Mission accomplished.
Booker was listed as one of the starting defensive tackles on the depth chart for Sunday’s season opener at New England and figures to see extensive action in a deep rotation.
“He’s really smart,” coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday. “He’s really tough. His consistency of effort is excellent. Chases the ball really well. Technique-wise, he’s really sound. It jumped out right in the first couple days we got him out there that he understood what the expectations of the position were.”
But Booker isn’t satisfied with seeing his name at the top of a list on a piece of paper. The 25-year-old former Stanford player understands the importance of competition.
“At the end of the day, if you’re on the roster, if you’re active, if you’re dressed, you have to prepare like you’re a starter,” said Booker, whose only previous career start was when the Eagles rested their regulars in Week 18 last season. “I’ve tried to keep that mentality consistent whether I’m at the bottom of the depth chart or the top.”
It’s part of what helped him make such a quick impression on the Raiders.
“I think for me it was just being aggressive and taking what I learned from my previous stop in Philly and trying to apply that here,” Booker said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do while listening as much as I can and still keeping the aggression and not playing timid.”
Injury report
The Raiders have experienced a fairly healthy run through the preseason.
“All I can tell you is we’re pretty darn healthy right now,” Carroll said last week. “We have two guys that are banged up right now, so we feel very fortunate to be in that situation. There are a lot of clubs that would do anything to be there.”
His words were backed up with the release of the first injury report Wednesday.
Starting cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly and backup quarterback Kenny Pickett were the only ones listed, and both were full participants in practice.
The Patriots had three names listed, but there could be more concern about one of their key player’s availability, as cornerback Christian Gonzalez remained out of practice with a hamstring injury.
Gonzalez hasn’t taken the field since suffering the injury during the team’s first padded practice of training camp and appears unlikely to play Sunday, though coach Mike Vrabel didn’t rule him out Wednesday.
New guys
Carroll said he hasn’t decided how much of a role Pickett and newly signed wide receiver Amari Cooper will play Sunday.
“We made sure that Kenny didn’t burst at any time because he was coming off a (hamstring injury),” Carroll said. “And Amari’s done well so far. We just want to get through some more practices. We just haven’t had that much time yet.”
Quarterback Geno Smith said he’s excited to throw to Cooper, whom he has followed since high school as a fellow South Floridian.
“When I get a chance to compete with a guy like that and get to work with him, I have a fan admiration aspect to that,” Smith said. “And he’s a great player. He’s still the same guy, still got juice, still can play. And he’s a guy who we’re going to look forward to taking advantage of when we get the matchups.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
