Raiders report: Quarterback turnovers mark final day in Costa Mesa

COSTA MESA, Calif. — The Raiders hope to leave some of their turnover issues in Southern California as they return to Henderson for the rest of training camp.

They certainly committed plenty during their final practice at Jack Hammett Sports Complex on Wednesday.

Quarterback Aidan O’Connell started strong, but he was intercepted by safety Tre’von Moehrig during one of the few team drills of the day. Quarterback Gardner Minshew took over and threw high off the hands of wide receiver Tre Tucker, leading to a pick for safety Isaiah Pola-Mao.

Quarterback Anthony Brown, who has showcased a strong arm and athleticism in camp, was up next. He threw a pass right between the numbers of wide receiver Alex Bachman, but the ball bounced off Bachman’s chest and into the air for another interception. Brown later threw a second pick to rookie cornerback Woo Governor on an ill-advised pass.

The miscues have been far too prevalent from all the quarterbacks, but it was something coach Antonio Pierce challenged Brown to get better at Wednesday.

“There’s some flash in some moments that you see,” Pierce said. “The reps count has kind of changed at times because of the focus on the top two guys, but Anthony Brown will play a lot in this first preseason game. We’ll get a lot of him and the skill set and athleticism, strong arm, some decision-making, but more importantly, and I’ll always go back to it, the quarterback is the first guy to touch the ball and has to make sure it always ends up in the Raiders’ hands. We’ve got to do a better job of that.”

Safety honored

Rookie seventh-round pick Trey Taylor may have thought he was done picking up college honors now that he’s in the NFL.

Turns out, that’s not the case.

Taylor added to his trophy case Monday when the safety was named the Mountain West’s male athlete of the year after an outstanding season at Air Force.

“On that platform in college, I did everything that I could to get some of these honors,” Taylor said. “I’m glad that something like that was given to me because we’ve had so much talent come through the Mountain West, not just in football last year, but in baseball and basketball and so many sports. For me, for my name to be number one is kind of insane to me. I’m blessed.”

Taylor had a rough start to camp after going viral for picking up a puppet dressed like Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He’s settled in since. He’s starting to show signs of the player who won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in college football last season.

Taylor said he’s humbled by all the honors he’s earned.

“I just want something that I can show to my kids one day,” he said. “It’s like a legacy thing you can have for life. Football isn’t going to be forever so some of these awards and being in some of these programs and being associated with some of these people, that’s going to give me a platform whenever football is over for me to be able to reach out and do what I want to do.”

Tooth hurts

Veteran defensive tackle John Jenkins missed a few days of practice despite no injury being reported.

Jenkins provided an explanation Wednesday.

“Things happen,” he said, laughing. “Wisdom tooth started acting up. That’s it. So everybody understands, right? I’ve being doing this for 12 years and the thing that takes me out is a wisdom tooth.”

Jenkins also dealt with dry sockets, which may have delayed his return. The process was made more complicated given the Raiders weren’t home at their Henderson headquarters.

Fortunately, there’s still the internet, Jenkins joked.

“There are resources everywhere,” he said. “All you have to do is Google.”

Jenkins is in his 12th training camp and second with the Raiders. He said his time with the organization has been rejuvenating.

“They believed in me,” Jenkins said. “It was the first time I felt like I was able to go and play and be myself. A lot of times when you’re dealing with organizations, sometimes they have a role for you and they already predetermined what you can do. I believed in myself for a lot of years that I can be an every-down person or more than just an in-and-out kind of guy. I was able to prove that last year, but this league is all about consistency. I’m working to do that. I’m working to be consistent.”

Picking it up

Wide receiver Jalen Guyton made several big plays Wednesday in his most extensive action of training camp so far. He looks like he could be an impactful addition to the roster.

Guyton missed the first couple weeks of camp due to a hamstring injury and came off the Physically Unable To Perform list Monday. He’s the most accomplished player in a group of receivers looking to step up in the wake of veteran Michael Gallup’s surprise retirement.

Guyton has 71 catches for 1,112 yards and seven touchdowns his five NFL seasons, all of which were spent with the Chargers.

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