HENDERSON, Nev. — Jalen McKenzie was 12 when he first walked through an ivy tunnel behind the Napa Valley Marriott and hit the field for Oakland Raiders training camp.
His dad, Reggie, was the team’s general manager (and a former player), and the slack-jawed Jalen would watch the players run around and work on their craft — one the super-sized kid had big dreams about himself back then.
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One day when Jalen was roaming the sidelines, Hall of Famer Willie Brown pulled Jalen aside. And then another day, another Hall of Famer, James Lofton.
“Willie Brown was this larger-than-life type of character, the coolest cat you will ever meet,” McKenzie said. “I couldn’t believe these guys were talking to me. James Lofton told me that every time you touch the grass is an opportunity to get better. And that always stuck with me.”
The moment and the memories hit Jalen harder than the 111-degree heat after minicamp practice Wednesday. He is 24 now, and the offensive tackle was on the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad last October before re-signing with the team in February. Yeah, McKenzie is trying to make his dad’s team. And Brown’s and Lofton’s team. McKenzie is one of three former Raiders’ sons now on the field, as veteran offensive lineman Andrus Peat was signed away from the New Orleans Saints and undrafted rookie Ron Stone Jr. is trying to follow in Ron Stone Sr.’s footsteps.
The older Stone played guard for the Raiders in 2004 and 2005, and his son wearing Silver and Black is the best Father’s Day gift possible.
“Him just getting a chance to play in the NFL is great, but having a chance to play at one of my old stomping grounds put a big smile on my face,” Stone said in a phone interview this week. “It was a real proud moment for the Raiders to pick him up.”
Stone Sr. played for coach Norv Turner when he was with the Raiders, and Norv’s son, Scott, is on the staff as the pass game coordinator. The Raiders also have a new coach: young offensive assistant De’Andre Pierce. His dad is Raiders coach Antonio Pierce, who got a little nostalgic and sentimental when talking about his son Thursday.
“There’s nothing like that relationship,” Antonio Pierce said. “As fathers, we get beat up a lot. I wasn’t a deadbeat dad. I was always there for my son, and I’m proud of where he is. I’m proud of all my children. And I’m just proud of the men that we have in this building because I think we’ve got some excellent men in his building. … Happy Father’s Day.”
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Peat’s dad, Todd, played three years for the Raiders as an offensive lineman in the 1990s. Andrus spent the first nine years of his career with the Saints before heading to Las Vegas. Good things come to those who wait.
“It was a dream come true,” Andrus Peat said. “Growing up, as young as I can remember, I was a Raiders fan. And the three years my dad played here, he always had great things to say about the organization, teammates, ownership, coaches and the great tradition. He had a lot of great stories.”
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Andrus was born in 1993, Todd’s last year with the Raiders and the final season of his seven-year NFL career. (He also played a year for the World League’s Frankfurt Galaxy in 1995.)
“Every baby picture there is of me, I am wearing Raiders gear,” Andrus said.
Jalen was the same way.
“I have been riding for this brand since I was born,” he said.
McKenzie played at USC before being on and off the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad the last two years.
“That was a great feeling when he signed with the Raiders,” Reggie McKenzie said in a phone interview. “Anytime your son not only follows in your footsteps but plays ball and loves it like he does, and then gets to line up and wear the same uniform, that’s the best. My oldest son (Kahlil) played at the University of Tennessee, where I did, and that was also a great feeling.”
Jalen McKenzie is 6 feet 4, 310 pounds and had to wait as a kid to fully embrace football.
“My sons loved football even before they started playing it,” McKenzie said. “They were always a bit too heavy to play youth football early on, and Jalen didn’t start playing until he was 9 or 10. He was too big. He wasn’t allowed. But when he started playing tackle football, he loved it. I thought he might play baseball because he was very good and nobody could touch his high heat, but he tore his ACL and couldn’t play baseball for a year, and from that point he locked in on football.”
Like Jalen, the elder McKenzie would have been undrafted, but the NFL had 10 rounds back in 1985, and the Tennessee linebacker was the 275th player picked.
“One of the best feelings I have ever had was when coach Tom Flores pulled me aside after the third preseason game and told me I had not only made the team but was going to be starting,” McKenzie said. “That was a moment I will never forget.”
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Stone Jr. was also undrafted out of Washington State and says he never considered playing for the Raiders until his agent mentioned they were interested as the draft wound down.
“He said Raiders and I was like … the Raiders? The Las Vegas Raiders? And then I told my dad,” Stone Jr. said. “It was pretty exciting when we all sat there and realized that the place where his career ended is where mine is starting. It’s a full-circle moment.”
Raiders defensive line coach Rob Leonard said Tuesday that this is the best group of players he’s had in his 12-year coaching career, and Stone Jr. can feel that. Not only the sheer talent and relentlessness of guys like Maxx Crosby and Christian Wilkins but also the leadership and selflessness of all the players in the meeting room.
“I am super blessed to be in that room with guys that truly care about each other, starting with Maxx and Christian on down to the guys who just got here like Charles Snowden,” Stone Jr. said. “They’re all here to help, and they want everyone in that room to succeed.”
The young players were finding their feet at the offseason workouts and this past week’s mandatory minicamp. But so are the young coaches, like De’Andre Pierce. He is helping out the offense — he was a defensive quality control coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last season, his first year coaching — and was holding the pads during an offensive line drill last month when rookie guard Jackson Powers-Johnson sent him flying.
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He is loving the transition after playing six years as a safety in college at Boise State and Arizona State.
“Like the players, I am still learning the system,” the younger Pierce said Tuesday. “And how I try and help the offensive players is by telling them what I would try and how I would approach things and attack it as a defensive player.
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“As a player and now as a coach, my big thing is always have a countermove. The moment you’re out there and the opposing player does something and you don’t have a counter, that’s the most terrifying thing to me.”
Pierce played for his dad at Long Beach Poly High, and then his dad was on the staff at Arizona State, so the third time is the charm.
“I grew up in the game of football with him,” the younger Pierce said. “This is the most comfortable I could be because everything that he believes in and preaches as a coach, that’s all me as well. I am a little more calm and more neutral than he is. … (Snaps his fingers.) He can flip it on in a switch.
“But in terms of mindset and everything I would want to do as far as when I get to his level, I would do it his way.”
His father was a great leader as a player with the New York Giants and now as a coach, and the Raiders players clearly bought in when he took over as interim coach last season. And his son is taking notes.
“He is a clear and concise communicator, and then he shows up every day with great purpose and energy,” De’Andre Pierce said. “The moment that a player sees a coach back off a little, they feel that they can back off. You always have to keep them on edge and keep it fresh.”
Antonio Pierce is pretty busy during a minicamp practice, firing up and instructing the defensive players as well as watching his assistants and taking time to learn the new offensive scheme. But every now and then, he glances over at his son and smiles.
“When I played, I had De’Andre at 18 years old,” Antonio Pierce said. “So, sophomore year of college, you’ve got a son, I’m chasing my career goal, and there’s a lot of things I missed. There’s a lot of graduations, performances, practices I couldn’t take him to. And I didn’t want a chance that when I got older and I finished playing that I missed those again.”
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Rosters of coaches around the league are littered with head coaches’ sons, and they all have to pay their dues.
“De’Andre has done a good job throughout his life of high school, playing college football, tried the pros, got into coaching,” Antonio Pierce said. “Listen, the opportunity came up. You put him on the staff, you put him at the bottom of the list, make him do the simple things, the hard things, things he’s not comfortable with. He’s over there coaching the O-line getting the hell beat out of him by Jackson, getting thrown out of the club.”
Ron Stone Sr., meanwhile, has kept his eyes on the Raiders through the team’s vast alumni events and visits, and he tells his son how lucky he is that there aren’t two-a-day practices anymore.
“They really take it easy on the guys,” Stone Sr. said. “They take real care of their bodies now. But I remember how much fun I had just being around the guys, and I am excited for my son to enjoy all that camaraderie and good stuff.
“This is his journey, and if I can help in any way, I will. He is a very smart player, and his technique is pretty good, so it’s going to be fun to see how things go.”
His son can’t wait for training camp to start July 23. And to run things by his dad.
“It’s always great to talk about things that he sees when he watches,” Stone Jr. said. “We play different positions, but he tells me what to look for from offensive linemen. What their goal is, their communication and their set and how I can use that to my advantage.”
When it comes to advice for training camp, McKenzie just told his son two things.
“Doggone, know what to do and go hard while you’re doing it,” McKenzie said. “Work the whole offseason on getting your technique down and studying the playbook. Then you go out there and just grind. As an offensive lineman, if you play smart and play tough and play to the whistle, that’s half the battle. Then your ability, size and strength comes into it and has to take over.
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“You don’t always have to be the most powerful, but you have to be the best at your craft.”
Jalen plans to earn the coaches’ trust and show them, his teammates, his dad, his mom, his entire family — everybody — that he is appreciative of being a Raider.
“It’s a blessing in every sense of the word,” he said. “You put in the work every day not really knowing the outcome, not really knowing what all your dedication is going to bring. And then a situation comes up where it’s even more intense than your wildest dreams. It’s something you could never fathom.
“It’s not like when he was playing, my dad was ever thinking that it would be great if his son could play here one day. For the same team in a whole different city. … It’s surreal how things fall into place, and you just take the opportunity, and you take it as far as you can.”
And that’s all any father could ask of his son.
(Top photos of Jalen and Reggie McKenzie courtesy of the Las Vegas Raiders and Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
