Paul Guenther hasn't been Raiders defensive coordinator long. He has been in Alameda about a week now, interviewing potential position coaches and pouring over last year's game tape.
He has some initial impressions on the group that struggled at the start and improved throughout the year. Generally speaking, however, Guenther sees talent on the roster.
"I believe there's a lot of good players here, a lot of good, young players," Guenther said Wednesday in a conference call. "You've got to get them out and develop them and get them to understand your system. But I think there are a lot of good pieces here for a foundation, for sure."
Guenther's system, where it came from and why he brought it to Oakland is a story for another day. Thursday morning, to be precise, so stay tuned for that.
Guenther's early evaluation of key Raiders, however, supports his statement about a strong foundation. He is most excited, as you'd expect, about working with edge rusher Khalil Mack and several others in silver and black.
Here's what Guenther said about…
-- DE KHALIL MACK: "Having a talent like that and ability of a guy like that, certainly you want to make it the centerpiece of the defense. We have to continue to develop our younger players to bring those guys up to speed and add people as we go through the draft and free agency. He's a guy that you can really build a foundation through and around. He's an exciting guy to be able to coach for sure."
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-- CB GAREON CONLEY: "He was my favorite corner coming out. His ability, he's smooth in the pedal, he's a good press corner, which we love to have. I'm excited to work with him."
-- S OBI MELIFONWU: "Obi is a big guy that when you turn on the tape, you're like, ‘Man, who is this son of a gun?' He's playing half the field, he's down in the box playing the run."
-- LB NAVORRO BOWMAN: (an impending free agent): "NaVorro is a prototype middle linebacker, really. The thing that impressed me most with NaVorro is that they got him here midseason and by the end of the year, it appeared to me that he was kind of the leader of the unit, making a lot of calls. You can see that on tape. It looks like he is a smart guy that understands the game. I love smart guys that love playing football. Hopefully we can get him back in the fold and keep him a Raider."
