We finally got our first taste of “Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Oakland Raiders” tonight and overall it was a pretty standard episode. HBO tried to give us a storyline with Ronald Ollie, but that storyline ended pretty quickly. Of course, we knew that because the Raiders cut him on July 30. That’s part of the deal. It looks like the producers will have to find a few other fringe players for us to become interested in. The episode did focus on the cast of characters we thought they would.
1. Johnathan Abram
The first-round pick out of Mississipi State was the obvious star of the first episode. Whether he was trying to justify hitting teammates in shorts and shells, discussing the pronunciation of the word salmon, bringing candy into camp, or having fellow rookie Clellin Ferrel ride a horse, he brought a big personality to the screen. We’ll see if the offense tries to get some revenge when pads are on as camp goes along. Abram will also have to battle for playing time as he is currently listed behind Lamarcus Joyner and Karl Joseph on the depth chart.
2. Jon Gruden
Gruden got the most screen time out of any of the big names, but that’s to be expected. We already saw the opening speech of the series in the hype trailer so that wasn’t much of a surprise. Gruden will remain front and center during this season because he’s one of the biggest personalities in the Raiders organization.
3. Antonio Brown
“Hard Knocks” did a pretty good job setting up Antonio Brown’s foot problems. The way it looks right now, it’s going to be one of the major storylines since we don’t have a Brown on the field storyline.
We did get some good views of Napa with Brown’s hot air balloon entrance. We also got to see what makes Brown one of the best receivers in the league. Even with foot problems, he can’t help but work out and compete.
4. Richie Incognito
The show only kind of referenced the reason Incognito will be missing the first two games of the year. If you want to know why that happened, it’s a doozy of a story. Incognito did love that Guy Fieri was present at practice.
5. Derek Carr
Derek Carr is a reserved guy which doesn’t make for a compelling storyline. He’s not brash. He’s not overly confident. He’s not surprisingly bad nor did he make any mistakes in the first episode that drew Gruden’s ire. He’s just excited to play football and told a story about throwing a long pass to Antonio Brown in the Pro Bowl. That’s about it for Carr.
6. Clelin Ferrell
Ferrell wasn’t really a big part of this episode but he did ride a horse with Johnathan Abram. That’s something, I guess. Let’s hope HBO shows us more of Ferrell who seems to have a good sense of humor.
7. Mark Davis
Davis was only in the episode for a short moment. He might not play a big role as he doesn’t seem like an owner who wants the spotlight. There is plenty of star power where he can be in the background. His speech to Raiders alumni was a nice touch.
8. Guy Fieri
Guy Fieri offered to take the entire team to Flavor Town. I’d love to see what the menu would look like for a Fieri catered Raiders’ meal. Fieri makes the list because it’s pretty amazing that he is one of the most famous Raiders fans.
Honorable Mention: Raiders Alumni
It was nice for the show to recognize the passing of Cliff Branch even if it was for a short second. It’s also amazing how many Raiders alumni were present at the dinner hosted by Mark Davis and the team.
