After Tuesday’s first OTA session, Levi Damien noted that the Raiders were moving around the trio of Reggie Nelson, Karl Joseph, and Marcus Gilchrist between free safety and strong safety. The next day Jon Gruden shed some light on that.
Gruden hopped on a conference call with season ticket holders along with General Manager Reggie McKenzie. A caller asked Gruden about playing Karl Joseph at free safety and Gruden’s response revealed defensive schematics for 2018.
“We don’t play a pure free safety,” said Gruden. “Our safeties play left and right. Bottom line is you’ll see Karl Joseph playing down near the line of scrimmage and in certain formations you’ll see him back deep in the post.