INDIANAPOLIS – Dave Ziegler has spent much of the month since taking over as general manager of Raiders, trying to put the big picture in focus before refining many of the details.
“There’s not much sleep, that’s for sure,” Ziegler told a small group of reporters in a remote corner of the Indiana Convention Center at the NFL Scout Factory on Wednesday. “Learning (our own) list is a major part of scouting. So it took a lot of time and effort. When you evaluate every single person under contract and every free agent, these are a lot of players that you have to evaluate along with all the new things you face when you take one of these positions … so it’s a long time management. ”
Although there have not been too many urgent deadlines, as Ziegler helps gather scout and coaching staff and acquires enough institutional knowledge to be fully prepared for his first off-season franchise, he is aware that time is a valuable commodity. .
This week’s combine is a boost to the high-speed black season. The new year of the league officially begins in two weeks with a free agency.
That’s one of the reasons why things like extending Max Crosby’s defensive star contract, which has only one year left in the deal, aren’t very high on the list of priorities.
“As we go through free mediation and get to the draft, there will be some of these organic talks that you will have. “I wouldn’t say we’re still there,” Ziegler said. “I know the question is curious and I understand it, but we’re just trying to take so many small bites right now.
“We will look at all these things in time. But it’s always good to have good players. “
There is also a deadline of May 2, just days after the draft, to decide whether to exercise the options for the team’s three first-round selections in 2019 or allow them to enter the final year of their contracts. recruits.
Defender Josh Jacobs, defender Jonathan Abram and defender Cleanne Ferrell could become free agents after next season if the team gives up. Ziegler said there was still time to make that decision.
“I think they are all just on an individual basis,” Ziegler said of whether he made the decision.
The importance of setting priorities is one of the lessons the 44-year-old general manager learned during his time in Las Vegas, which was largely limited to a two-way trip between M Resort and the Henderson team.
This week’s priority is the evaluation of talent through field work and individual interviews at the plant. This is something he is used to with his rich scouting experience. But now that he’s the general manager, he doesn’t have the opportunity to be so short-sighted.
“It simply came to our notice then. I’ve always been in college, so there was an element of interviewing players and things like that. But you are more here, getting the pulse of what is happening in the world of professionals. “So yes, the range and the lens are definitely much wider now.”
While Ziegler refuses to identify specific goals in any field, he shares a common philosophy.
“It sounds simple, but we will just try to train good players and then find what they do well and use them in the best way,” he said.
“I would say that what we are looking to do is build depth and competition. This is really an important part of team building. I think that when you build depth and competition in your whole team, you will naturally build position groups that have strengths that take advantage of that. ”
Contact Adam Hill at [email protected]. I follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.