ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) -Gerard Warren and Warren Sapp walked off the practice field together laughing.
A day after questioning the Oakland Raiders’ acquisition of Warren, Sapp welcomed the new defensive tackle to the team.
“He said just, ‘Go to work baby. You’re in Oakland now. Go and do what we know how to do which is play ball,”’ Warren said Tuesday after his first practice with his new team.
Warren spent the day mostly working with the scout team as he tries to catch up on learning the system and his teammates in Oakland.
The former No. 3 overall pick in the draft was traded from the AFC West rival Denver Broncos for a conditional fifth-round pick Monday. Warren was deemed expendable because of a new system in Denver that asked the defensive tackles to hold the point of attack rather than penetrate.
In Oakland, Warren will go back to playing the more aggressive one-gap style that allows him to burst through and make plays. It’s a style that Warren has watched Sapp excel at for years.
“I love playing the one-gap, because you can raise havoc and actually be a factor on the defensive line,” Warren said. “And the two-gap scheme to me, it’s more, if you’re not blocking for the linebackers then you’re not doing your job, and I feel like I can make plays.”
When the Raiders acquired Warren on Monday, Sapp said he didn’t see a need for the deal and didn’t envision Warren even making the team. Warren said he’d do his best to “break into” Sapp’s top eight and make the team.
Just one year ago, Warren was deemed the Broncos’ best defensive linemen as evidenced by the six-year, $36 million contract he signed before injuries to both big toes led to an unproductive 2006 season.
The Broncos left him behind when they opened the exhibition season at San Francisco and again when they spent a week in Dallas practicing with the Cowboys before their preseason game last Saturday night.
Warren said his only bitterness about his time in Denver was that the Broncos didn’t release him earlier so he would have had a better chance to make a team.
“It makes it tough trying to pick up the scheme and the terminology,” he said. “But hey, ‘It’s part of the job. If you can’t get it you won’t be here.”’
Warren expected to be traded to Washington or Indianapolis but ended up with the Raiders after the first deal between the AFC West rivals since 1993.
Warren will now experience the other side of the rivalry after two years with Denver.
“It was pretty heated, pretty hated,” he said. “Guys pretty much would be getting pumped that week. I guess you could call it getting amped up in practice. Because you know you’re playing the Raiders and how much it means to the city.”
Coach Lane Kiffin said it was too early to determine how much Warren can contribute to the team after just one day of practice. The deal costs Oakland nothing if Warren does not make the roster.
“He looked OK but I have to go back and watch the film before I make a judgment on it,” Kiffin said. “Obviously that’s a lot different than playing a lot of plays but we’re going to try to push him through and try to play him this week.”
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