Luke Steckel loves coaching the Raiders in the restricted room

Steckel came to Las Vegas with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, when the two worked together on the Chicago Bears last season. The former offensive line coach’s high energy and positive attitude is now directed toward the Raiders’ young tight end, a position group he previously coached with the Tennessee Titans (2021-22).

“I’ve been very fortunate in my career to work in every offensive position,” Steckel said. “The offensive line was kind of the last one to check off the list and had the opportunity to work in that room last year and it’s definitely a different world. It’s a different perspective. … (hopefully) I can take what I learned last year and apply that to some of the things we do as a tight end in the running game, knowing how we help in protection and where the O line might be having issues or where it needs our help.

At his disposal, he has 2023 second-round pick Michael Mayer and the Raiders’ latest first-round pick, Brock Bowers, who won two national championships and two John Mackey Awards at Georgia.

While praising the skills of both young guns, he acknowledges that the competition between the two will bring out the best in each, especially in Getsy’s offensive scheme.

“I’m so lucky to have the guys we have in our locker room because they work hard, they play hard,” Steckel said. “They’re extremely intelligent, they’re very talented. These two guys, do they compete every day? Absolutely. That’s what we expect from them, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at how they interact. They “We are extremely supportive of each other. … Watching the interaction between those two in particular, and really throughout the room, was really encouraging. “

Stepping into his new role with the Raiders, Steckel can rely not only on the advice of the talented coach around him as he settled in, but also on the lessons of his father who followed the same path.

“(We) both owe it to football to have a roof over our heads all our lives. Since the beginning of his career, the two messages he has always conveyed are: firstly, there is no substitute hard work. There is no There is no easy way If there was, we would all take it, and those who do usually end up failing.