The Las Vegas Raiders made A.J. Cole the highest-paid punter ever. He recently spoke about many things, including his new contract.
Las Vegas Raiders P AJ Cole
Las Vegas Raiders P AJ Cole / Darrell Craig Harris, On SI
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HENDERSON, NV– The Las Vegas Raiders have changed a lot since relocating from California to Nevada. However, punter A.J. Cole has been one of the few constants in the Raiders’ organization.
The Raiders recently made Cole the highest-paid punter ever, while tying him to the organization for many more years.
Following Organized Team Activities, Cole spoke about a wide range of topics.
Pete Carroll spoke following the owners’ meetings earlier this offseason. We have a partial transcript of everything that he said.
Q: What do you remember about the first impression Dave Canales made on you, and what made you want to hire him and bring him along?
Coach Carroll: “It was a long time ago now. It was 15 years ago or something like that. David came in as a real energetic, open, good communicator, athletic, could coach on the field, could move and coach. And at that time, that’s all I could tell. I didn’t know him very well. He was a pup. But he grew up in the program, he was really loyal. He was really dedicated to what we were doing and really curious to learn and to study. And right now, I mean, he’s as close to the mentality that I’m teaching as Danny Quinn, Sark [Steve Sarkisian] and Lane [Kiffin] and those guys because he was with us such a long time that he became the philosophy and the approach, and so he found himself through that. I watched every step that he took this year, and I’m really thrilled for the progress they made and the way they kept bouncing back from the challenges of putting together a new program. And I think he’s going to do a great job.”
Q: What was the hardest part about the way he [Dave Canales] handled his quarterback decision?
Coach Carroll: “I thought he did a masterful job of that. That was very difficult. He was given the number one pick in the draft and all the expectations to come along with that, and I think along the way, he made tough decisions one step at a time. And in those decisions, I thought he maximized the position. I thought Andy [Dalton] did a really good job when he came off the bench this year and gave them a real spark, and showed why David [Canales] and his staff was believing in the things they were believing in.
“They saw success happen, they can feel it, they just got a taste of it. It didn’t last as long as they would have liked, but then, we he came back and got Bryce [Young] going, I thought that was an obvious illustration of why he made the decision that he made. Bryce needed to sit back a bit and learn from Andy. Andy was willing to teach him, and they went through that whole process. And when Bryce came back, he got better throughout the season and finished strong. And so they, I would think, I can’t speak for them, but I would think that they found out a tremendous amount of information to head forward with the quarterback position. I don’t know where they are, what they’re going to do about it, but I think they’re in a pretty darn good place right now and looking forward to this second season.”