The 2018 NFL season was largely unkind to the Oakland Raiders. After finishing 4-12, the Raiders are hoping that the 2019 season will be much better.
One bright spot last year was the kicking provided by rookie Daniel Carlson, who converted on 16 of his 17 attempts with the Raiders.
Heading into his second year with the Silver and Black, Carlson is hoping to be able to improve upon his excellent rookie campaign, via Eddie Paskal of Raiders.com:
“I think you’re always getting worse or better, and so I think, yes, I learned from things that worked last year, and I want to keep those things going, but at the same time, I always want to improve. I’ve been working really hard this offseason,” Carlson said. “I want to continue to build off what I had last year, and the things that were going well, but still continuing to improve every day. I think for the most part I’ve been able to do that. That’ll be the goal now as we wrap up minicamp and have a little break before camp, just continue to get myself ready so once the season hits I’m ready, and hopefully we have a long season, and get into the playoffs, and hopefully I’m peaking come playoff time.”
Carlson’s NFL career started after being drafted in the fifth round by the Minnesota Vikings. After going one for four on field goal attempts with the Vikings, he was released by the team. Six weeks later, Carlson found himself working out with the Raiders and earning a spot for the rest of the year.
Before NFL success, Carlson spent four years at Auburn where he made all of his 198 extra point conversions and 80% of his 114 field goal attempts.
The Raiders signed Carlson to a one-year, $570,000 contract this April. Carlson hopes to use his first offseason with the team to improve on the little things. Carlson feels that during the regular season, each week is just time spent working towards the matchup.
The sophomore kicker does not plan on making each kick absolutely perfect. He knows that each kick is different and even if one might be an “A+” and another a “B”, as long as they go in, it’s okay.
