Nothing normal about this Raiders training camp

When Raiders players report to training camp in Henderson on Tuesday, 211 days will have passed since they were last together as a full team.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which dictated the Raiders’ nearly seven-month separation from each other during the oddest offseason in NFL history, also means their reunion will be a brief, segmented meeting to start a training camp the likes which we’ve never seen.

In fact, it’s in name only that Tuesday should even be referenced as the opening of camp.

Any remnants of actual football will be few and far between. Coach Jon Gruden won’t preside over any team meetings. And if quarterback Derek Carr crosses paths with running back Josh Jacobs, it likely will be a random, coincidental meeting.

The beautifully manicured practice fields at the Raiders’ new facility will largely sit empty, save perhaps for rookie players getting in conditioning work after already going through the COVID-19 screening process.

Very little that happens will look or feel like a normal first day.

“I wouldn’t even know what to compare this to,” Raiders fullback Alec Ingold said.

When Ingold and the rest of the Raiders non-quarterback veterans show up on Tuesday — Carr and fellow QBs Marcus Mariota and Nathan Peterman reported last Thursday — they will begin a 72-hour COVID-19 screening process for which two negative tests will be required in order to move onto phase two of the training camp return protocol.

They’ll arrive at the facility, take their test and head back home.

Players that meet the screening criteria will then have access to the team facility to undergo standard physicals and be fitted for equipment. Under the best-case scenario, the process will take five days.

In situations where players test positive — and given there will be 60 or so players getting tested on Tuesday that could happen — a quarantine protocol as lengthy as 10 days awaits.

So no, nothing about the opening of this training camp is business as usual. Not for the Raiders or any of their 31 other counterparts across the NFL. And it won’t be for a while as teams ease their way back into work under the constant cloud of COVID-19.

Only after a 20-day ramp-up period — including eight devoted to conditioning and four to non-padded football work — will the Raiders finally get on a practice field for 14 fully padded, football-devoted workouts.

When that happens, it will be the first time this year that Gruden and his staff will get a complete look at the 2020 Raiders in a football setting. To say he and his players and staff will have to get busy from that point on is an understatement.

Per the training camp plan agreed to by the owners and players, the Raiders will be allotted roughly 24 football-related practices — and no preseason games — to prepare for their season opener against the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 13.

That isn’t exactly ideal for a team counting on a slew of second-year players and rookies to play significant roles. But there is no other choice but to push forward and make the best of the situation.

The Raiders need speedy rookie wide receiver Henry Ruggs to contribute immediately. Fellow first-round pick Damon Arnette, a cornerback out of Ohio State, must impress as early as possible to forge a role in the secondary. Clelin Ferrell, who vowed to return a changed player after an up and down rookie season, is being counted on to emerge as a force at defensive end.

The challenge for all three — and others — is to somehow make up all the ground lost by not going through the normal rookie and veteran minicamps or offseason team activities. And they will have to do it in the dramatically condensed football-related segment of this year’s training camp.

While the Raiders catch a break with quarterback Carr returning for his third year in Gruden’s system and a largely intact offensive unit returning, including an entire offensive line, that is certainly not the case on defense.

The Raiders made a big splash in free agency on defense by signing linebackers Cory Littleton, and Nick Kwiatkoski and defensive linemen Maliek Collins and Carl Nassib and defensive backs Prince Amukamara and Damarious Randall. All six players figure to play a big role in getting the Raiders’ defense pointed in the right direction.

Eventually, anyway.

But they will have a limited amount of time to get things together in camp, with the time they can devote to football being slashed and the four preseason dress rehearsals eliminated entirely.

It won’t look or feel normal. A premium will be put on coaching, organization and diligence.

And for a team looking to make a big move in the third year under Gruden, making the best of the short time they have is essential.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore onTwitter