Oakland Raiders third OTA: Standouts and sit outs

The Raiders are in the midst of their final OTA session this week. By this time next week, they will be into their mandatory mini camps. That is when, as the name suggests, player attendance is mandatory. For now there are still a few players not practicing.

This also meant that some guys were getting more opportunities and it could be their final chance to really show they deserve that opportunity before things get more regimented.

For now, some of the rookies and new Raiders are getting some extra time in. Last week it was all about the rookies and this week a few new Raiders got extra time.

Sit outs

Darren McFadden was not in attendance this week. He is hosting his own youth football camp in Arkansas and according to Dennis Allen, he should be back on Thursday. Taiwan Jones and Mike Goodson split first team reps in his absence with Goodson getting the bulk of the carries.

Those still not here from previous OTA's include Richard Seymour, Tommy Kelly, Shane Lechler, Manase Tonga, and Mike Mitchell. Seymour, Kelly, and Lechler are simply vets who chose not to attend. Mitchell and Tonga are out with injuries.

Those in attendance but not practicing with their teammates were Stefen Wisniewski, Aaron Curry, and Matt Shaughnessy. All are injury related. Stepping in for Wisniewski at center was Alex Parsons. Curry was replaced at weak side linebacker by rookie Miles Burris.

Returning to practice was Sebastian Janikowski and Marcel Reece.

Reece recently signed his exclusive right free agent tender and joined the team in OTA's for the first time on Monday. He is in limited duty as he catches up to the rest of his teammates who have had several OTA practices to acclimate to the new offense.

Standouts

Juron Criner impressed again. He caught everything in sight, including a couple tough catches in traffic and even had a one-handed grab. Denarius Moore made a great hands appearance as well with a one-handed grab of his own. Read more about this great hands duo here.

Darrius Heyward-Bey tried to get into the one-handed catch act. Palmer threw a perfect ball to him over defenders and he tried to bring it in with one hand and dropped it.

Second year defensive end Hall Davis leapt in the air to tip a Matt Leinart pass and he alertly came down with the interception off his tip.

Offseason acquisition cornerback Brandon Underwood had an interception on a high pass from Terrelle Pryor. It was Pryor's second high pass of the day. The first one sailed out of reach of anyone.

Carson Palmer did well with his footwork and executed several bootlegs and rollouts with precision-staples of the West Coast offense. He had some off target passes early in practice with the defense looking like it was getting on track. But by the end of drills, he was in rhythm.