Raiders mailbag: What’s the plan at running back?

The Raiders open training camp in less than two weeks, and fans have plenty of questions.

Here’s a sampling of what arrived in this week’s mailbag:

Ed Helinski (@MrEd315): What’s the Raiders’ rushing attack going to look like this season? Rushing attack by committee or will a feature back emerge?

Bonsignore: Zamir White will get every opportunity to show he can be the featured back. He’s in incredible shape and appears eager to build off his four-game stint to end last season.

That said, his usage probably won’t replicate the load Josh Jacobs carried as the featured running back the past few years. Expect to see Alexander Mattison play a complementary role to give the Raiders a different look while preserving White. It might not be a full-on running back by committee situation, but certainly a more balanced approach compared to seasons past.

Raider Classics (@RaiderClassics): Is Aidan O’Connell making progress in this new offense, like calling audibles and making side adjustments with wide receivers?

Bonsignore: It’s been a few weeks since the Raiders practiced during minicamp, and at that point they were focused on installing the playbook rather than mastering certain segments. That left little room for making major adjustments at the line of scrimmage. That will happen in training camp.

O’Connell is an intelligent player, and there is little concern about his ability to grasp the scheme and master it. The question is, how good will he be executing it?

Boo (@decallahan58): What do you see as the ceiling for Aidan O’Connell based on what we know? Much was done to support Derek Carr, yet he was average. Is there proof O’Connell is more than average?

Bonsignore: This is the question of the season, and it’s incumbent on the Raiders to get it figured out. They can’t get to the end of the season without having a firm idea of what they have in O’Connell. Good or bad, whatever information they can get on him will help them shape their plan at quarterback.

Blot Bruddahs (@BBruddahs): Do the Raiders plan to have any joint practices during training camp?

Vincent Bonsignore: They don’t have any joint practices scheduled. It’s a tricky year for them to schedule practices with other teams because they play the NFC West this season, which likely took the Rams out of consideration, as well as the Saints, whose training camp site in Irvine, California, is minutes away from the Raiders’ site in Costa Mesa.

That isn’t to say the Raiders weren’t open to having joint practices with either team, but the sides couldn’t come up with a plan.

The Cowboys, who practice in Oxnard, California, and are the Raiders’ second preseason opponent, made some sense as a joint practice possibility. But there is no movement in that direction.

Interestingly, the Raiders have altered their practice schedule for the final two weeks of camp in Las Vegas. Upon returning from Costa Mesa, they will start practice between 6 and 6:40 p.m. — two of them will be at Allegiant Stadium — to mitigate the heat factor. In seasons past, they practiced early in the morning to get weather relief.

(@RaiderNationJJ): Would the Raiders bring back wide receiver Hunter Renfrow at a reasonable price?

Bonsignore: Doubtful.

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