Matt Kawahara

The Raiders will take a look at another fullback, signing free agent Ryan Yurachek on Friday and waiving Henry Poggi. Yurachek played tight end at Marshall, where he made first-team All-Conference USA his senior season and totaled 143 catches with 26 touchdowns over four seasons. He signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent last month and was waived last week. As the Raiders’ roster stands now, Yurachek would be the backup fullback going into training camp behind Keith Smith. That had been Poggi, who signed with the Raiders as an...

The 49ers secured one of their key protectors of franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on Friday, signing left guard Laken Tomlinson to a three-year contract extension. A first-round pick by Detroit in 2015, Tomlinson was acquired by the 49ers on Aug. 31 for a 2019 fifth-round pick. He started the final 15 games of last season. The 49ers chose not to exercise the fifth-year option this spring on Tomlinson, which would have paid him $9.6 million in 2019. But general manager John Lynch at the time stated the team’s interest in signing Tomlinson to an...

Johnny Cueto jogged on the AT&T Park field a few hours before first pitch Thursday preparing for a minor-league rehab assignment this weekend. Some 90 miles away, Jeff Samardzija took the mound in Sacramento and pitched four innings against minor-league hitters. As the Giants’ battered rotation inches closer to being whole, perhaps no development was more encouraging Thursday night than the outing of Madison Bumgarner, who threw eight scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the Padres in just his fourth start since his own return. Bumgarner held the Padres to...

Hunter Strickland apologized Thursday for a “stupid, split-second decision” in which he punched a door after blowing a save Monday night and broke his pitching hand. Discussing the incident for the first time with reporters, Strickland shouldered responsibility for what is expected to be a six-to-eight-week absence and said he planned to address his Giants teammates in the clubhouse before Thursday’s game against the Padres “First and foremost I’m sorry,” Strickland said. “I know I’ve let a lot of people down. I let my teammates down, my...

As an aspiring NFL defensive tackle in recent years, Maurice Hurst says, one of the players he often watched was Cincinnati’s Geno Atkins. Atkins is among the league’s most disruptive interior defensive linemen, a Pro Bowl selection each of the last four seasons with 32 sacks in that span. He compiled those numbers under then-Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, who now holds that same title with the Raiders. Atkins played a key role in Guenther’s defense lining up as a 3-technique, to the outer shoulder of the opposing guard, and getting...

While some Raiders players and coaches dispersed for a summer break following the end of last week’s minicamp, their incoming rookie class still had work to do. First-year players have been at the Raiders facility this week for the team’s “rookie academy,” a transition program that provides lessons and advice on transitioning into life in the NFL. Session topics vary from financial advice and dealing with media to NFL policies and a history of the Raiders franchise. The academy is put on by the team’s Player Engagement Department. ...

The Raiders have signed LSU edge rusher and third-round draft pick Arden Key, they announced Friday. Key was the last unsigned member of this year’s nine-player draft class for the Raiders. Key was twice a first-team All-SEC selection at LSU and set a school record with 12 sacks in 2016. He was available to the Raiders at No. 87 overall in the draft in part because of a rocky final college season that included a leave of absence, injuries and weight gain. Key vowed last month: “I’m back to my 2016 (form). I got down, lost the weight.”...

Receiver Martavis Bryant said he was grateful for a “clean slate” in April when he was traded to Oakland following a troubled few seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Raiders reportedly are hoping that has not already been tarnished. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the NFL is exploring potential discipline against Bryant in a situation involving its policy on substance abuse. Bryant, 26, missed the first four games of the 2015 season while suspended for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. A subsequent violation led to his...

Overshadowed by Jon Gruden’s reunion with the Raiders in January was the return of another former head coach to the organization. Shortly after his own hiring became official, Gruden hired Tom Cable as his offensive line coach. Cable was the Raiders’ head coach for two-plus seasons from 2008-10 - a tenure, and departure, marked by controversy. Given the option to return, Cable said he initially “wasn’t sure” about coaching again with the Raiders. But that changed when he stepped off the plane in Oakland. “The car ride from the...

Head coach Jon Gruden termed the Raiders’ minicamp practice Thursday a “final examination” - an extended walkthrough in their last session before breaking until training camp. The Raiders ran about 100 plays in various situations and personnel groupings to “try to create some muscle memory” before players disbanded. The team reconvenes in Napa the final week of July. “I’m really pleased with the offseason, couldn’t really be more pleased,” Gruden said. “We got a lot of reps, came together as a team, which is the most important thing. And...

Ryan Switzer said he was headed for the mall in April when he got the call from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones saying he’d been traded to the Raiders. In Oakland, then, Switzer can appreciate the array of options around him. On one flank, there’s Amari Cooper, on the other Jordy Nelson and Martavis Bryant. For Switzer (5-8, 185), who’s trying to make the Raiders’ roster as a slot receiver, those outside passing targets are a benefit. “I think you look at the great slot receivers in this league and all of them have got great outside guys around them,”...

The Raiders may not be the only NFL team with a competition at kicker this summer, but theirs could easily be the most polite. Otherwise it would just seem awkward. Incumbent Giorgio Tavecchio is back. Also in camp is Eddy Piñeiro, whom the Raiders signed as an undrafted free agent but considered drafting. And their new holder, rookie punter Johnny Townsend, was Piñeiro’s college teammate and holder the past two years. It’s an unusual dynamic by which Tavecchio, the left-footer with NFL experience, would appear to be the outsider amid the three kicking...

Cornerback Gareon Conley carried himself well in his NFL debut last season in Week 2 against the Jets. Targeted for the first time, Conley stayed in stride with receiver Jermaine Kearse and deflected a deep pass. The Jets rarely threw at him again as he finished with three tackles. Looking back, though, the 2017 first-round pick says he didn’t feel right in that game - or for the vast majority of his rookie season. Conley, selected 24th overall by the Raiders out of Ohio State, missed all of training camp, the exhibition games and the regular-season opener...

Khalil Mack’s contract holdout began in earnest Tuesday as the edge rusher was absent for day one of the Raiders’ mandatory three-day minicamp. Mack, the 2016 Defensive Player of the Year, and the Raiders have not been able to reach an agreement on a lucrative long-term extension. Mack is entering the final year of his rookie contract and set to earn $13.8 under a fifth-year option. If Mack misses all three minicamp days, he could face a fine of $84,435 under the CBA. Raiders head coach Jon Gruden said he doesn’t know if he’ll see Mack this week. ...

The Raiders announced Tuesday they waived quarterback Christian Hackenberg and linebacker Brady Sheldon before the start of mandatory minicamp. The moves were made to create roster spots for defensive end Frostee Rucker and defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin, who were officially signed Tuesday. The Raiders traded a 2019 conditional seventh-round pick to the Jets last month for Hackenberg, who was a second-round draft pick in 2016 out of Penn State but did not play in a game over two seasons in New York. Hackenberg didn’t get much of a look with...