Kenyan Drake Fighting Hard to Impact the Las Vegas Raiders

Running Back Kenyan Drake

Q: How is it being back out there for the first time since your injury?

Drake: “I feel great. It was uncharacteristically humid out there the last couple days. It felt like I was practicing back in Miami. But other than that, the guys are just out there competing. It feels good to kind of be back out there. It’s kind of funny, a couple of the outside zone runs I’ve had like in practice, I had to kind of consciously think about how not to think about my injury because of the fact that play was an outside zone play. Just kind of getting out there, did a live period. It felt good getting hit again, so I’m back and I feel good.”

Q: After your injury, is it important for you go through the process of getting hit and getting back up in practice?

Drake: “Yeah, for sure. It’s not my first rodeo. I broke my ankle and dislocated it in college. That was more of a substantial injury, and I remember going through spring of my senior year and just kind of going through that same process of feeling it out in a sense. But that was spring, this is camp. So, I kind of had to put myself in a different mind frame to kind of be like, ‘alright, hey, you are going to get hit. You are going to fall down. People might fall on your ankle. At the end of the day, it’s football. You’ve been doing this for 20-something years. I’ve been playing since I was six years old. Can’t really think about the injuries. You just got to control what you can control.”

Q: Where do you place yourself in this offense with what you are able to do?

Drake: “Throughout my entire career, I’ve predicated my game on versatility. So, being able to do anything and everything that the coach asks me, whether that’s catching the ball out of the backfield, running between or outside the tackles, special teams, ball in my hand, without the ball in my hand. I feel like it’s been a full circle in my career starting from coming out of college being in Miami as kind of a rotational back, getting the starting job in Arizona and then coming here and also being in a role position and having all these great backs and great players around me now. I’m just excited to contribute in any way possible.”

Q: Do you get a sense of the things that you do well are going to be accentuated in this offense? Drake: “Like I kind of mentioned, controlling what I can control is something that is my mantra. I try to run my own race. Not to just throw a bunch of cliches at you, but at the end of the day there is only one ball, we have a lot of playmakers. Coach McDaniels and the rest of the offensive staff is going to do their best to put each and every one of us in the best position to help this team win games. And that’s the most important part at the end of the day. Plays are going to be made, people are going to make plays whether it's me or somebody else. I’m all for it. And hopefully I can contribute the way I’ve been contributing in my career and I have the upmost confidence in my ability to do that.”

Q: Can you talk about Josh Jacobs mindset and the work he’s put in despite not having his fifth-year option picked up?

Drake: “Josh is a guy that’s been through a lot in his life. It’s well documented obviously. And he loved the game of football. At the end of the day, he’s going to challenge the energy of everything around him to continue to elevate his game personally. I know that he’s somebody that likes to have a lot of people around him that believe in him and at the end of the day we believe in him regardless of whatever the circumstances are with his contract. He is not thinking about that. He’s thinking about today, July 28th, going out there and giving his best. And the guys around him are going to continue to uplift him and vice versa.”

Q: When you are a player going into a contract year, how do you kind of compartmentalize not focusing on what’s next but just focusing on football?

Drake: “I’m going into my seventh year, man. It’s actually surreal kind of thinking about it, being one of the old heads. Brandon [Bolden] kind of got me beat by a little bit, but I kind of remind him of that all the time. At the end of the day, like I reiterated man, it’s about running my own race. There’s a lot of things I have to continue to work on. I feel like there is a lot of things and people around me that I have to lift up, like the young guys and the rookie in the room. My job is to bring my level of expertise to the room and then disperse that energy and that knowledge to everybody that needs it, and vice versa. I’m big about energy. I’m big about making sure that everybody around me feels comfortable with me going out there and doing my job, and vice versa. We out here playing a game, man. I’ve been playing this game since I was six years old. I’m happy to be here. I love playing for this team, I love playing for this city and I love playing for the guys around me.”

Q: Can you talk about doing pushups on the field? Was that part of your own accountability? 

Drake: “It’s funny that you mention accountability. That was something that Coach McDaniels mentioned in the team meeting today. First thing I kind of wrote down in my note pad. And I had a fumble during one of the 9-on-7 drills, ran around the field, one lap. And then I had drop in one of the half-line drills, came out the backfield and tried to make a move too quick and didn’t focus on catching the ball first. So, I did 10 pushups for that and 50 pushups for the fumble. And that’s just something that I do. We got a little fine board in the running back room where at the end of the day I don’t know where the money is per se going to go to, but hopefully it goes to like a dinner for everybody or a charity, whatever the case may be. But at the end of the day, accountability is something that we harp on. We want everyone to be accountable for their own actions. Help uplift their teammates and make sure they’re accountable for their own actions as well, and I feel like as a team that limits the mistakes that we make. We were top of the league in penalties last year. That’s something that coach continues to harp on and that’s despite making the playoffs, so if we eliminate the turnovers, eliminate the penalties, the sky is the limit for us. And that’s what we wanted to start now and continue through the rest of the season.”

Q: What do you think is the flip that switched for Lester Cotton?

Drake: “Lester is one of my guys. He was a young guy when I was in Alabama. One of those guys that kind of has a lot of pressure on him because he was a highly recruited guy but didn’t necessarily get the playing time initially, early. Now vice versa in the league, I think he was undrafted. He’s been with the Raiders for a little bit. He was telling me when he dropped me off at my crib the other day how he got cut and then came back and then kind of felt like it was a second chance. And I love a redemption story, especially knowing him personally. Seeing the way that he’s continued to mature. He went and got baptized a few weeks back before camp, so I love a man that can find peace in whatever he believes in, and then at the same time he mirrors that with his ability to come out here on the field and give his all. I love that for him. I feel like now he’s going into his third or fourth year, and people around that time, we all kind of had that ability to kind of find ourselves in different time periods. Some people grow up faster, some people experience that a little later. And just seeing the maturation process from when he first got to Bama until what he is now, I’m all for it. I love it.”

Q: What are your impressions of Zamir White and Dylan Parham?

Drake: “Yeah, man, they want to soak up knowledge. And that’s all you can do at this time because everything is going real fast right now. I try to just push a lot of positive energy onto them because at the end of the day you are going to make mistakes. That’s just the part of the game where you lack the knowledge to go out there and do your job fast because you ae thinking about the fact of, ‘alright, what if I mess up on this? What if I do this? What if I’m thinking about this?’ So, positive reinforcement, and constructive criticism when needed. Coach is going to do it, but we all kind of coach ourselves, especially in the running back room. So, I just want to make sure they continue to be accountable for what they do good, what they don’t do good, learn from their mistakes, and next day come out and continue to strive for greatness. You are not going to achieve perfection, but you want to stive for greatness, and I believe in them, and I’m excited for them to continue to grow through their career.”