The Sports Xchange

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray, who gained 424 yards on 82 late-season carries in 2014, has been consistently running with the first team and will probably head into training camp with that designation over free-agent acquisitions Trent Richardson and Roy Helu Jr.

The Raiders had only 1,240 yards rushing as team last season, dead last in the NFL. Five individual NFL runners had more yardage, and Murray, a sixth-round draft pick in 2013 out of Central Florida, sees himself as one of those kinds of runners.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself,” Murray said. “I would think any person does. I just know how important it is. This is a big year for me and I know that I need to go out and prove myself. I hold myself to a high standard.”

For Del Rio, the important thing has been Murray’s ability to put practices together after arriving in good shape.

“The most important ability in a running back is availability,” Del Rio said. “You need to make sure you’re conditioned to absorb some of the punishment you’re going to take playing that position.”

–Ray-Ray Armstrong, cut by Jeff Fisher from the St. Louis Rams last season because of continued issues with post-whistle issues including personal fouls, claims to have cleaned up his act.

Armstrong said he had a meeting with head coach Jack Del Rio that helped put things in perspective.

“It was about after the play — attitude after the play, getting into stuff I shouldn’t get into, hurting the team with a silly penalty late,” Armstrong said. “I just wanted to go about carrying myself better. It was something I took up on myself to do, as well as them telling me, trying to get the best out of me.”

Armstrong has been singled out by Del Rio for improved disciplined and has seen time as the first-team weak-side linebacker while incumbent Sio Moore works his way back on the field following hip surgery.

–New special teams coordinator Brad Seely isn’t sure the new extra-point rule — snapping the ball from the 15-yard line — will have much of an impact on the Raiders because of the presence of kicker Sebastian Janikowski.

“I think any time you make a rule that makes it harder, it favors the guys that have more talent,” Seely said. “I don’t think that rule maybe will be as big a deal to us as it might be to somebody else in the sense that our guy is pretty good at 33-yard kicks.”

Seely acknowledged that inclement weather could play a role, but noted, “We’ll find out more about it, but as of today, they made it a little bit harder for the kicker, but I don’t know if it’s changing the game.”

–Wide receiver Amari Cooper, the No. 4 overall pick in the draft and being counted upon to play a major role on offense, has been fielding punts in practice. It remains to be seen if Del Rio would actually place the No. 4 pick at risk in that manner.

“That’s above my pay grade,” Seely said. “What we’ll always do is look at ‘Hey, here’s what the guy can do for us’ and you’ve got to weigh it. Can he change a game in that aspect for you? If the guy is fantastically talented at one thing and can help you win the game, you’ve got to look at it.”