Raiders report: Ex-LSU star isn’t ready to endorse Brian Kelly

Raiders report

Schedule

All practices at Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center, unless noted:

Saturday — Off

Sunday — vs. Washington Football Team, Allegiant Stadium, 1:05 p.m.

Monday — Rich Bisaccia news conference, 1 p.m.

Tuesday — Off

Wednesday — Practice, 11 a.m.

Thursday — Practice, 11 a.m.

Friday — Practice, 11 a.m.

Dec. 11 — Off

Dec. 12 — at Kansas City Chiefs, Arrowhead Stadium, 10 a.m.

Quote of the day

Tight end Foster Moreau is a proud Louisiana State alumnus in a locker room full of former Alabama stars.

But he’s not ready to embrace his alma mater’s new coach, Brian Kelly, who went viral on social media Thursday speaking with what appeared to be a southern twang developed overnight.

While Moreau said he had yet to see the clip, he paused for more than five seconds when asked what he thought of Kelly’s hiring.

“My mom always said if you don’t have anything nice to say, you should probably just keep it to yourself,” Moreau said. “I don’t know anything about Brian Kelly. I know he’s a family-oriented man, and I’m excited for the opportunity he has.”

The hesitancy to endorse Kelly might be more of an issue with the school’s decision to move on from Ed Orgeron, who coached Moreau.

“Fit is always important, chemistry is always important,” Moreau said. “But the more you can be around people, the more you can understand where they come from.

“Obviously, ‘Coach O’ knew every inch of Louisiana and anything in that soil, and that was very meaningful to the state and the university. He was not only an incredible coach but also an ambassador for football in southeast Louisiana.”

Injury report

Star tight end Darren Waller is doubtful for Sunday’s game with back and knee injuries. Interim coach Rich Bisaccia said Waller will be evaluated again Saturday, but he didn’t practice all week.

Linebacker Patrick Onwuasor (hamstring) and defensive end Carl Nassib (knee) are listed as out.

Wide receiver DeSean Jackson (calf), linebacker Nick Kwaitkoski (ankle), cornerback Keisean Nixon (ankle) and running back Josh Jacobs (ankle) are questionable. Kwiatkoski and Nixon have missed the past three games.

“Those four are all questionable, and we’ll kind of make a final decision (Saturday),” Bisaccia said. “They ran around out there a little bit through most of the practice, so we’ll make a final decision on how it looks.”

Cornerback Trayvon Mullen (foot) remains on injured reserve. Bisaccia said the team hopes Mullen can play Dec. 12 at Kansas City.

“He had two good days of running around, and he worked on the scout team a little bit trying to get him back in the football routine,” Bisaccia said. “He had a better day today than yesterday.”

Best supporting actor

Moreau had six catches for 60 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles the only other time Waller missed a game this season.

Bisaccia said the standard doesn’t change when Moreau is called upon for a bigger role on offense, but it does mean a decreased share of special teams snaps.

“We have a pretty tight relationship,” Moreau said of Bisaccia, the special teams coordinator. “He won’t put me on kickoff, bless him. But there’s no way I’d be off punt, and I’ll definitely be going in at certain times whenever needed.”

Old friend

Washington defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was the head coach of the Raiders from 2015 to 2017.

While the roster has almost completely turned over, Derek Carr was the quarterback for Del Rio’s tenure.

Bisaccia said there’s always an intriguing chess match when a coach and player have such familiarity.

“I’m sure Coach Del Rio feels he has a pretty good handle on Derek because he’s seen him in a lot of practices and a lot of game situations,” Bisaccia said. “And Derek probably is thinking, ‘I know what Coach Del Rio may call in certain situations.’”

While there were a couple of odd exchanges between Carr and Del Rio since his tenure ended, most notably Del Rio’s critique of Carr’s cold-weather performances, Del Rio was complimentary of Carr this week.

“He’s having a good year, probably as good a year as he’s had since year two of our time being there when he really tore it up,” Del Rio said.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.