Veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts feels the enthusiasm around the Raiders, the energy new coach Pete Carroll is bringing.
He just knows it doesn’t mean anything yet.
“The standard is there, but it just can’t be talked about,” said Roberts, who won two Super Bowls with the Patriots. “You’ve got to come in every day and you’ve got to win the day. You can’t try to come in and be one foot in, one foot out, and I think Pete is doing a very good job instilling that in us every day.”
Roberts, 31, believes Carroll can transform the Raiders’ positive vibes into success on the field. It’s one of the reasons he signed a one-year deal with the team in March. He believes in Carroll’s ability to develop a winning culture.
Playing for legends
Roberts knows a thing or two about playing for successful coaches.
He played in New England for four seasons under Bill Belichick. He also spent the last two years in Pittsburgh playing for Mike Tomlin, who led the Steelers to victory in Super Bowl 43.
Roberts didn’t want to compare the coaches he’s played for, but said they shared a common trait.
“They’ve all been champions,” Roberts said. “I think the one thing that does make them all the same is they’ve all been there, and they all have held that Lombardi (Trophy), so they know what it takes. But Pete is in his own lane. Pete is leading in his own way with his energy, his desire, his standard. It’s like, ‘Hey, get on this train, because if you’re not on this train, we’re gonna find somebody else to do it,’ and it just is what it is.”
Carroll wasn’t the only Raiders coach that Roberts was excited to work with. He’s narrowly missed out on playing for defensive coordinator Patrick Graham multiple times in the past.
Graham was previously the Patriots linebackers coach but left the organization a few months before Roberts was drafted in the sixth round in 2016. Roberts also signed with the Dolphins a few months after Graham stopped being Miami’s defensive coordinator.
“He was running from me,” Roberts said, joking. “I got out here and said, ‘It’s about time. What’s up man?’”
‘Let’s go’
The two haven’t stopped talking since.
Graham said they’ve been in constant communication, a necessity because Roberts will often wear the green dot and be asked to relay the play calls to the rest of the defense.
It helps that the two have worked with many of the same people around the NFL.
“We’ve joked about how I’ve never coached him, but it seems like I’ve coached him,” Graham said. “That’s been really positive. I love talking football with him and that position is critical for me to be able to speak to him.”
The two have talked so often they’ve had to make sure they’re staying within the league rules about offseason communication between coaches and players.
“We only get a certain amount of time in the building, so shoot, I’m trying to pull up on (Graham) at his house and everything like, ‘Hey, let’s talk a little ball,’” Roberts said. “I’m telling you, he is the type of guy who wakes up in the morning thinking about football. He can be eating something and he’s thinking about football. He can be watching the UFL and just start calling plays because he’s that locked in.”
Roberts feels like the two are getting on the same page. That’s important given the player Roberts is replacing, Robert Spillane, was on the field for more than 97 percent of the Raiders’ defensive snaps the last two seasons before signing a three-year deal with the Patriots in March.
Roberts hopes to provide the same kind of value. He’s been in the NFL long enough to know the margins are slim between teams that compete for titles and those that fall short.
“If I’m not every day in here with the mindset of leading my room, being that leader on the defense, being the green dot, bringing the juice every day to make sure that we’re at the standard that we need to be at, then I’m just cheating the process,” he said. “And that’s one thing that I harp on myself every day I wake up. Once I hit those doors, I’m like, ‘Let’s go.’”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
