NAPA, Calif. -- Two times this past weekend in training camp, Eddie Vanderdoes burst through the line to sack Derek Carr.
"Well," Carr said with an uneasy laugh, "he never brought me down."
True, touching the quarterback is frowned upon in practice, let alone hitting him and taking him to the ground. But Vanderdoes has not had to make contact with the Oakland Raiders franchise quarterback to make an impression on Carr.
Far from it.
The rookie defensive tackle, who was selected in the third round of the draft out of UCLA, joined the first-team defense in the third practice of training camp and has not surrendered the spot since.