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“The happiest person in the building should be Josh Jacobs. I know that.” — Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr on the team’s offensive system under new coach Josh McDaniels

HENDERSON, Nev. — Josh McDaniels landed in Las Vegas with the reputation of an elite playcaller, one who leans heavily on a roster of running backs just as big as it is versatile in skill sets.

Power backs? Check.

Pass-catching backs? Check again.

Pass-blocking backs? Check three times.

Indeed, with seven tailbacks and a fullback on the training camp roster, it might be a good problem for McDaniels to have when it comes to cutting down to an initial 53-man roster.

“It’s pretty interesting,” McDaniels said this week when asked about the depth and diversity of the running backs room. “There are some young guys that are learning but play really hard and give great effort. We have some guys that are kind of multifaceted in terms of what they do and bring. We’ve tried to give them all different opportunities here in the first few games to try to do some of those things.”

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Case in point: the (relatively) heavy workload Jacobs, a Pro Bowler in 2020 and presumptive starter this season, played in the Hall of Fame Game. Jacobs starting and getting seven touches (five carries for 30 yards and two catches for 14 yards) on the first two series raised eyebrows.

Or veteran Kenyan Drake, who is returning from a broken right ankle, seeing significant time in both preseason games.

“I mean, the proof is in the pudding,” said Drake, who has carried the ball nine times for 24 yards while catching two passes for 17 yards combined, after the Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings in the second preseason game.

“You see everybody on the field being productive, playing in every and any situation — from four-minute with Brittain [Brown] finishing it off to the two-back set that we have, me and Zamir [White] in the first half, and then, obviously, not to mention the [two] other guys that haven’t played that are going to make a big impact on this team, so the sky’s the limit for this room. I feel like we’re going to be the heartbeat of this team and we’re going to, every game, go out there and be the engine.”

Through two exhibitions, Austin Walter has rushed for a team-high 79 yards with a TD and caught a 3-yard pass, while White, a fourth-round draft pick out of Georgia, has rushed for 65 yards on 16 carries and is tied for the team lead with five catches for 27 yards.

Brown, a seventh-round pick from UCLA, has rushed for 54 yards and a score on 14 carries and caught two passes, while Ameer Abdullah has 7 rushing yards and a TD (his low-high roundhouse kicks followed by a twirl kick as an end zone celebration was a nod to the video game “Tekken” while also serving as inspiration to the kids on “Cobra Kai”) and also has two catches for 23 yards.

Interestingly, neither of the two backs who came from McDaniels’ old stomping grounds, the New England Patriots, have played in the preseason — tailback Brandon Bolden and fullback Jakob Johnson.

How much can you truly glean, though, from two games of a preseason for a new regime?

Well, it’s been a fairly balanced offensive attack this far, with the Raiders passing for a combined 322 yards on 59 attempts and rushing for 299 yards on 72 carries.

All eight backs survived the first round of cuts, from 90 players to 85, this week. The Raiders must get down to 80 players by Tuesday, three days after the exhibition at the Miami Dolphins (7 p.m. ET, Saturday).

“You just take it one day at a time,” said Abdullah, who is in his first camp with the Raiders after spending seven seasons with the Detroit Lions, Vikings and Carolina Panthers. “That’s what my father has always told me — you can’t live too much in the future, that breeds anxiety. You can’t live too much in the past, that breeds depression. Just staying present. Keeping everything that’s right in front of you, which is what you can control.”

So how many backs might McDaniels keep on that initial 53-man roster?

He’s had as many as five in New England. So if that’s the case, who might be the odd man out among Jacobs, Drake, Bolden, White, Abdullah and Johnson? Cutting Drake would carry an $8 million dead money cap hit.

As Jacobs said, the competition has been “amazing” in camp.

“I mean, it’s fun, man,” said Jacobs, who is playing for a new contract after not having his fifth-year option picked up. McDaniels downplayed theories that Las Vegas was showcasing Jacobs in Canton for a trade.

“I’m a firm believer of having a group of guys that’s ready to compete. I believe that iron sharpens iron, [so] just to be around them guys that’s willing to work every day, that’s good or better in certain areas, and to be able to compete with them, it’s been fun. Being able to come in, and being a vet now, and being with the rookies and being able to pass that knowledge along, that’s what the game is, that’s what the game is all about.”

And as McDaniels said, he really likes this group of backs, and the way it is coached by Kennedy Polamalu.

“I’ve always been a big believer in having as many good backs as you can have on your team because like I’ve said before, they get the ball more than anybody else … other than the quarterback, and usually they’re taking hits and getting contact when they have it,” McDaniels said. “So, there’s a chance for nicks and bumps and bruises and injuries. You just don’t ever want to get caught short in that area.

“I like what they’re doing. They push one another, they help one another, they work really hard together. We’ve got a lot of maturity in that room that continues to try to pull guys along, especially the young guys.”

HENDERSON, Nev. — Running back Josh Jacobs, author of two 1,000-yard rushing seasons in his three-year career, did not have his fifth-year option picked up this offseason by the Las Vegas Raiders‘ new regime.

Darren Waller, who set a franchise record with 107 catches two years ago, is just the 17^th highest-paid tight end in the NFL in terms of average annual value and is still hoping for a contract extension.

And while two of quarterback Derek Carr‘s most potent threats are entering a season without contracts they would like, both of the Raiders’ 2020 Pro Bowlers insist they are focused on football, rather than the business end of things.

Really.

“I’m a firm believer in the work that you put in is going to pay out for itself, and I had to be here either way,” said Jacobs, one of three Raiders’ first-round picks in 2019. “And this is where I want to be. I didn’t have no problem with it. It just gave me more of a reason to come in every day, gel with the guys and work.”

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Waller echoed President John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” mantra in explaining how he compartmentalizes desiring a new deal on par with his skill level and production with being a professional.

“As a human being, you want to think about things like that, but for me, I feel like adopting the mindset of when I’m here, what can I give to the team? As opposed to, what I can get?” Waller said. “If I give enough, I feel like when my time comes to an end on Earth … people are going to remember me for the impact I had on people or things I was able to do for the world.

“So I try to take that attitude into the smallest details and parts of my day. Because, yeah, we are humans, and we can get distracted, but I feel like taking that approach has definitely helped me to focus in on just what I can do within the day here. And it keeps it simple and keeps it fun.”

The Raiders, with new general manager Dave Ziegler and new coach Josh McDaniels, added All-Pro receiver Davante Adams in a trade with the Green Bay Packers in the spring. Plus, Las Vegas gave slot receiver Hunter Renfrow a two-year, $32 million extension this offseason.

And that’s just on offense. Defensive end Maxx Crosby got a four-year, $99 million extension while Pro Bowl linebacker Denzel Perryman is entering the final year of his contract and is also looking for an extension.

Waller would seem to be next in line, though, at least when it comes to offense, as the Raiders still have more than $24.1 million in salary cap space for 2022, per ESPN Stats & Information.

“I’m focusing on playing right now,” said Waller, who still has two years left on the four-year, $29.8 million extension he signed in 2019. No money is guaranteed, though, for this season or next.

“My agent handles that. Whatever’s going on there is whatever’s going on there. Whatever the outcome is of that, I’m here. I’m playing.”

Jacobs, meanwhile, has rushed for a combined 3,087 yards and 28 TDs while catching 107 passes for 752 yards in his three seasons.

But with the additions of Brandon Bolden in free agency and Zamir White in the draft and the return of Kenyan Drake from a broken right ankle, there is a chance that Jacobs’ production might go down in a potential running-back-by-committee scheme. Thus, potentially hindering future earnings, no?

Same with Waller, considering the addition of Adams and the emergence of Renfrow.

Not that either of them is focusing on those factors now.

Besides, Jacobs looks sleeker and faster than he has in his previous three camps. Even as he sat out OTAs and minicamp dealing with an undisclosed physical issue.

“Offseason, I was just getting my body right,” Jacobs said. “I didn’t have anything that was too crazy. I was just focusing on what I feel like I needed to focus on at that time.”

The focus now, then, is on what happens on the field, rather than at the bargaining table.

HENDERSON, Nev. — Consider it one of the biggest challenges facing the Las Vegas Raiders‘ new regime. And it’s not merely a single-prong problem.

Because while general manager Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels have to clean up what can only be considered draft misses (messes?) by previous staffs, they also have to show they have learned from those mistakes and avoid making the same ones going forward.

Consider: The Raiders have given out second consecutive contracts to six of their 68 post-Al Davis draft picks from 2012 to 2019.

Only one was a first-rounder (left tackle Kolton Miller, who was drafted by Jon Gruden and Reggie McKenzie in 2018) and one was taken in the second round (quarterback Derek Carr, who has signed a pair of extensions after being picked by McKenzie and Dennis Allen in 2014).

Two third-round picks (guard Gabe Jackson went 81^st overall in 2014 and offensive tackle Brandon Parker went 65^th in 2018) and a pair of fourth-rounders (defensive tackle Justin Ellis was No. 107 in 2014, while defensive end Maxx Crosby was taken No. 106 overall by Gruden and Mike Mayock in 2019) round out the list.

Only the New York Giants have signed fewer of their draft picks over the same time frame to second contracts (two), while the Jacksonville Jaguars have extended 10 of their 59 picks from 2012 to ’19.

And when you throw in the fact that three of the Raiders’ 15 eligible first-round draft picks since 2005 have signed second deals with the team — Miller, running back Darren McFadden (drafted in 2007) and 2006 first-round defensive back Michael Huff (Las Vegas also re-signed 2016 first-round safety Karl Joseph in 2021 after Joseph spent a year with the Cleveland Browns) — it’s easier to fathom how the team has only been to the playoffs twice, losing both postseason games, since appearing in Super Bowl XXXVII … in January 2003.

Yet, as Carr said last week at the news conference announcing his three-year, $121.5 million extension — he previously signed a five-year, $125 million extension in 2017 — he wanted to make sure money was left on the table to take care of teammates in need of, yes, second contracts.

“Guys like, hopefully, Hunter [Renfrow] and Foster [Moreau],” Carr said of his slot receiver, who was a fifth-round pick in 2019, and his backup tight end, a fourth-rounder that same year. “And [hopefully] those guys can stay here the way we structured [my extension].

“I went through a heartbreak already last time I signed my contract, my best friend [Khalil Mack] left, and I didn’t want that to ever happen again. And so, this was an opportunity for me to prove to the team, to the organization, to our fans, that the way we’re going to structure this is so that we can keep everybody together and really, really have real continuity, really have something to build on. And so, for me, it was like, how do we do that?”

The Raiders will also get roughly $20 million in salary-cap space after June 1, thanks to the releases of defensive end Carl Nassib and linebackers Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski.

Plus, the Raiders will have to make decisions on whether to apply fifth-year options on their 2019 first-round picks — defensive end Clelin Ferrell, running back Josh Jacobs and safety Johnathan Abram.

“Usually in these negotiations, ‘How much money can we get?'” Carr said. “And then they’re, ‘How much can we save?’ And this was just different. There was a learning curve about it. Like, how do we make that happen to where I feel good and to where the team feels great, like, ‘Man, we can still build a championship team around you.’ And so, that was what was important to us. And hopefully this contract proves that.”

The proof, though, remains in the draft and the regime’s coming selection technique.

It is the lifeblood of any organization, and with Raiders owner Mark Davis bringing in a couple of lifelong New England Patriots in Ziegler and McDaniels to run the football side of things, expect big changes.

Such as the actual, well, draft philosophy. The Raiders do not have first- or second-round picks, thanks to the Davante Adams trade, and are not scheduled to make the first of their five selections until the third round, at No. 86 overall.

“We’re going to try to draft the best players [available],” McDaniels said at the NFL owners meetings. “I mean, if we draft three in the same position in a row, because they’re clearly the three best players when it’s our turn to draft, I mean, you make a strength stronger.

“To me, the best way to improve your team is to continue to take the right guy. Not, ‘Oh, man, we’ve got a hole on the roster, let’s take this guy just because his name says whatever position beside him.'”

And maybe, just maybe, the Raiders will find some guys worthy of second contracts that way.

“No, Josh is a great coach. I’m sure he feels like it’s a great opportunity; that’s why he took it. Other than against us, I hope he does well. I’m sure he will do well. He’s an outstanding coach. Some of the people that are with him are very good, too. It all worked out well. It’s an opportunity we couldn’t provide.” — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, when asked if he had any issues with new Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels pilfering any of his coaches and players.

HENDERSON, Nev. — On the surface, it looks like Josh McDaniels simply pillaged the Patriots’ front office and coaching staff, bringing with him to Las Vegas a general manager (Dave Ziegler), offensive coordinator (Mick Lombardi), offensive line coach (Carmen Bricillo) and quarterbacks coach (Bo Hardegree).

But, as expected, McDaniels also brought in a gaggle of players he knew from New England.

And the effect — in real life and the fantasy sports realm — will be felt mostly in the Raiders’ running back room.

Because while Las Vegas returns Josh Jacobs, who rushed for a career-low 872 yards in 2021 after authoring a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons in his first two years, and Kenyan Drake, who is returning from a broken right ankle, the Raiders brought in a pair of ex-Patriots in Brandon Bolden and fullback Jakob Johnson in addition to former Carolina Panthers running back Ameer Abdullah.

“That’s a position that’s hard to stay healthy, it just is,” McDaniels said at the recent NFL owners meetings. “They touch the ball more than everybody but the quarterback, and they get hit more than anybody.”

McDaniels referenced two backs who were “rehabbing” at the moment.

“To have depth in that room is important because if you don’t have quality depth in the running back room today in the NFL, a lot of times you’re going to run into some issues and some injuries, you know, and then you get caught in trying to make a quick transaction during the middle of the season,” McDaniels said. “So we’ve always tried to have as much depth in that room as we can.

“It’s a position that it’s really critical to have good players, but it’s also really good to have good depth that you can plug in there and they can serve a lot of roles.”

Here, in Week 1 of Phase 1 of the Raiders’ offseason training program, it’s safe to pencil in Jacobs as the starting running back, even if he is new to McDaniels’ system.

Even quarterback Derek Carr, in his news conference announcing his contract extension, said the benefit from the offense would be felt most by the lead back.

“Right now, we’ve only had two days of [classroom] work,” Carr said, “but the happiest person in the building should be Josh Jacobs. I know that.”

The versatile Drake, meanwhile, was rounding into form when he went down with 63 carries and 30 catches for a combined 545 yards and three touchdowns. He remains a wild card as he rehabs and learns the offense.

Trey Ragas returns after spending most of last season on the practice squad (he did have one regular-season carry, for 9 yards, and two catches for 6 yards).

Abdullah, a seven-year veteran, caught a combined 38 passes for 289 yards and a TD and rushed 51 times for 166 yards for the Panthers and Minnesota Vikings last season.

It was Bolden, though, who made his name as a pass-catching back in New England, catching 41 passes for 405 yards and two touchdowns last season, while rushing for 226 yards and a score on 44 carries.

Johnson? He’s a seldom-used fullback in McDaniels’ system, who, nonetheless, knows the system well.

“Look, the opportunities that we had to add a few players that you have some familiarity with, that never hurts,” McDaniels said.

Same thing with the coaching staff. Because as McDaniels said, the last time he was hired as a head coach, by the Denver Broncos in 2009, he did not know nearly enough people to bring with him.

“I had only been in the league for eight years, so I didn’t have as much experience and as many connections as I do at this point,” he said. “It’s a blessing that we have an opportunity to work together, some of us that have had those relationships. You just hit the ground running a little quicker when you have the opportunity to do that, and those guys have done a great job. I’m really pleased with our staff, the way they’re working, their mindset, their attitude, their work ethic has been tremendous so far this spring.

“I give them a lot of credit for the time they’re spending at the facility. It’s tireless. Most of our families aren’t out there yet. We go from the end of one season and it’s work all day and all night now. Really enjoy being around this group of guys.”