Silver And Black Pride
Pair of veteran defensive backs coaches key to shaping up young defensive backs group in Las Vegas
With the oldest cornerback and safety being 27 and 29 years old, respectively, the Las Vegas Raiders secondary is a young group overall.
It’s a group of 12 defensive backs that are 25 years of age and under and the unit in total numbers 17. Of course, that sum will dwindle in due time. The Silver & Black’s roster, like the other 31 teams in the NFL, are at the bloated 90-man limit. Come cut-down day to the 53-man roster, swaths of released and waived players will hit the open market.
But the timespan between that fateful day and offseason workouts and training camp in mid-July, we’ll get to see just how vital defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson and pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Joe Woods are to the secondary.
Both didn’t need a sell job on the Raiders’ mystique as Robertson and Woods are no stranger to being on the Silver & Black coaching staff. Both spent time with the Oakland variant — Robertson from 2015-16 and Woods in 2014 — and their respective paths have crossed three separate times amongst a trio of different teams. Most recently, the duo of Robertson and Woods were the New Orleans Saints defensive backs and defensive coordinator, respectively, from 2023-24.
Now, they’re back together on head coach Pete Carroll’s coaching staff to coach and develop Las Vegas’ secondary.
“I believe I’ve got a vast knowledge of the game. I also think my 12 years of experience being on the grass has played a very vital part in not only my relationship with players but getting them to understand and see things and feel things,” Robertson told Raiders.com during a Q&A session back in April. “I try to do the best I possibly can not to put our players in positions where I myself would be uncomfortable. I’ve seen a ton of football. I’ve played a ton of football. I always tell my players, you’re going to learn to trust me. For me, alignment, assignment, technique, finish, all those types of things. I think over a period of time if you continue to rep them, they become like second nature. No different from a guy getting up every day and driving to work.”
“It’s really just knowledge,” Woods said in a similar team Q&A back in April. “I mean, with every team you’ve been on, with every different type of guy you coach, with every system that you’ve been in, the game experiences, the adjustments you had to make, your personal interactions and dealings with different players, I just feel like you grow. You get more experience and you know how to handle different situations based on things you’ve dealt with in the past.”
Having the experience and knowledge is one thing. Being able to impart that onto players under your charge for tangible development and growth is a whole different beast. And how...
