Raiders cancel last day of OTAs

The Raiders’ first offseason program under Josh McDaniels is in the books.

The Raiders were scheduled to gather for one last organized team activity (OTA) practice Tuesday at their Henderson facility, but McDaniels canceled the workout to let his players get a head start on their last break before training camp in July.

Teams typically shorten their offseason program as a reward for the players’ work during the two-month process. McDaniels frequently complimented the Raiders for their high attendance numbers during the voluntary program.

Last week during the mandatory minicamp McDaniels talked about taking advantage of every chance to get on the field before taking some time off.

“We’re going to use the ones we have and try to do the best with those opportunities,” McDaniels said. “And then, regardless of if we’re where we want to be or not, we’ll hit the pause button eventually here and take a deep breath and then we’re going to have a lot of work ahead of us in training camp.”

As the Raiders closed in on the end of OTAs, McDaniels talked about the patience needed as a new offense and defense were being installed

“Because I think you go into it knowing that that’s going to be a process,” McDaniels said. “I think if coaches are impatient in that regard, it’s not a good thing at this point in time of the year. We don’t play a game for a number of months.

“So, we have a long time to continue to invest in the players and in their skills, in their fundamentals and the techniques that we’re trying to teach. They know they have time to continue to work on those things. So, patience is really important at this time of the year.”

The Raiders have not announced an official start date for training camp. However, the Raiders and the Jacksonville Jaguars, who meet in the Aug. 6 Hall of Fame Game, will open camp one week earlier than other teams.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.