NFL training camp are in full swing, which can only mean one thing…the debut of a new season of Hard Knocks, of course. A new trailer for the acclaimed HBO documentary series was released on Friday, showing Jon Gruden, Derek Carr, Antonio Brown, and the Oakland Raiders in all their training-camp glory with a typically dramatic voiceover evoking the team's hopes for 2019.
The Raiders, it bears mentioning, were one of five teams obligated to appear on the show if if chosen by the NFL. Teams are exempt from being forced to appear on Hard Knocks if they either have a first-year head coach, made the playoffs each of the past two seasons, or have been featured in the last 10 years.
Oakland general manager Mike Mayock has made no secret of his feelings on the series profiling his team, last week calling the cameras and production crew an “intrusion.”
“Jon and I are kind of old school. And the reason you go away to training camp is to get away from all the distractions, get together, bond, learn your assignments. No distractions, no intrusions,” he said, per Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Hard Knocks is an intrusion. But it was handed to us, so it’s up to us to deal with it and I think we’re dealing with it in a professional way.”
The Raiders went 6-10 last season in their first year under the leadership of Mayock and Gruden.
Hard Knocks premiers on August 6th at 10 p.m. EST on HBO.
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