NAPA George Blanda Jersey , Calif. (AP) More than three months after the NFL draft, Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Maurice Hurst is still a little bitter about how things played out.

Projected to be a sure first-rounder after his final season at Michigan, Hurst wasn’t selected until the fifth round amid questions about his health stemming from a heart condition that also got him sent home from the scouting combine.

Although Hurst said he first learned of the issue during his freshman year in college, he was stunned not hearing his name called until the third day of the draft.

He’s still not fully over it.

”I don’t know if it ever goes away,” Hurst said Friday. ”It’s just something that’s always on your shoulder and something that you always have to carry with you. Just keep it there to push you harder.”

The Raiders are counting on Hurst and second-round pick P.J. Hall to improve an interior pass rush that was almost non-existent last season. Both rookies have gotten work in with the starting defense during practices and will get an extensive look when preseason games begin next week.

”They don’t want us to be rookies,” Hurst said. ”They want us to come out and play right away and play effectively, and come out and just dominate and do what they expected us to do. Just be a vital part of this defense.”

Hurst had 12 sacks in college, five coming as a senior when he was an All-American.

With the Raiders, he’ll be part of a rotation up front that includes Hall and veterans Justin Ellis and Mario Edwards. Eddie Vanderdoes, a second-round pick in 2017 who started 13 games as a rookie, is recovering from ACL surgery.

To help accelerate his growth, the Raiders have had Hurst play against starting center Rodney Hudson and guards Kelechi Osemele and Gabe Jackson. Hudson and Osemele were Pro Bowl picks last season while Jackson was an alternate in 2016.

”They throw a few crumbs every now and then,” Hurst said. ”They don’t want you to beat them every time. But they’ve been extremely helpful. Every day I get to go to work I get to play the best guys in the country. That’s only going to make you better every day.”

Hudson said Hurst’s natural instincts have made for a smooth transition.

”He’s got a lot of ability Keenan Robinson Jersey ,” Hudson said. ”Smart rusher. He’s always attentive and asks questions. He’s got a lot of God-given ability. He’s quick and he uses his hands well to be so young.”

Hurst showed all of that during a pass-rush drill Friday. Paired against two offensive linemen, Hurst burst through the middle of the double-team effort and used his right hand to knock away one defender’s block attempt.

If only finding a place to live was that easy for the Raiders rookie.

Hurst admitted getting sticker shock while checking out the housing market in Northern California and joked that he might have to go back to driving for Uber, something he did in college to earn extra money.

”It’s ridiculous,” Hurst said. ”Look here, look home, look Michigan. I’m like, `I can get a nice place over there.’ But over here you get a little box. There was one on Craigslist I saw that someone was renting out a closet for $400.”

Notes: Jackson was held out of practice for unknown reasons, one day after leaving the workout early. . Left tackle Donald Penn, who has not practiced in camp yet after having offseason foot surgery, appears close to returning. Penn has been working out with a team trainer and got work in on a blocking sled.

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DeMarcus Lawrence enjoys needling pass-rushing understudy Taco Charlton, who spent plenty of time in the offseason working out with the man who tied for second in sacks in the NFL last year for the Dallas Cowboys.

"He's aggravating," Lawrence said, trying not to show that he was joking. "I go places in Dallas thinking I'm by myself and two seconds later Obi Melifonwu Jersey , I see Taco walk in. Why is he always following me?"

Maybe it's because Lawrence is coming off his best season at 14 1/2 sacks while Charlton is trying to deliver on first-round expectations in his second year.

Add Randy Gregory working to get his career back on track after a year away from the NFL on a substance-abuse suspension, and these recent high draft picks by the Cowboys, all defensive ends, offer an interesting trio of story lines going into 2018.

"Encore?" said Lawrence, who tied Jacksonville's Calais Campbell for second, 2 1/2 sacks behind Arizona's Chandler Jones. "You've just got to stay tuned. We're going to put on a big show this year."

Gregory was activated from the non-football injury list Wednesday following a yearlong suspension over multiple violations of the league's substance-abuse policy.

Coach Jason Garrett says the club did it to allow Gregory to be more active in morning walkthroughs at training camp in California. The Cowboys aren't in any hurry to have him participate in a full padded practice.

"He's been away from football for a long time," Garrett said. "He did a good job of keeping himself in shape. But again, we don't want to compromise him early on here and put him a couple of weeks behind where he should be, so we're going to progress deliberately here."

As for Lawrence and Charlton, it's full-speed ahead. Here's an overview of all three players a week into camp:

LAWRENCE'S MOTIVATION

The Cowboys put the franchise tag on Lawrence at the end of his four-year rookie deal, and there weren't any contract discussions of substance before the deadline to sign a long-term deal expired.

Lawrence, who gets $17.1 million guaranteed this season, was the first pass rusher drafted by the Cowboys after they released franchise sacks leader DeMarcus Ware in 2014. Dallas traded up to early in the second round to get him.

He didn't get his first sack until his second season and had just nine through three years before a quick start in 2017 led to his breakthrough. Now the 26-year-old is playing for a big payday.

"As a kid Tarvarius Moore Jersey , they tell you the sky's the limit. They lyin' to you," Lawrence said. "You set your own limits. That's why I said, 'Secure the bag,' because I'm going out there each and every day and showing my son and showing my family I set my own limits."

CHARLTON'S MODEL

The former Michigan player is actually three sacks ahead of Lawrence's pace. Charlton had three as a rookie after the Cowboys took him late in the first round. If nothing else, he knows patience is part of the formula.

The 23-year-old Charlton's debut in the NFL was Lawrence's first season without an injury or season-opening suspension, which Lawrence served in 2016.

"I talk trash, like, he didn't do nothing," Charlton said. "That's kind of how we wing it, 'Ah, you didn't do nothing. Ah, you did this, I'm going to go faster.' It pushes us to go to that next level. Him doing what he did last year pushed me to try to do that same thing."

Charlton seems much more at ease Tommylee Lewis Jersey , speaking freely and frequently with reporters during camp.

"The comfortability level is probably the biggest thing," he said. "There's not so much where I'm wide-eyed seeing what's going on. I roll out here like I belong and I can do whatever I need to do to progress."

GREGORY'S LONG ROAD

The former Nebraska standout has been suspended for 30 of the past 32 regular-season games for multiple violations of the substance-abuse policy.

Gregory was considered a first-round talent when he slid to near the end of the second round of the 2015 draft over off-field concerns that included a positive test for marijuana at the combine.

While he was cleared to return by Commissioner Roger Goodell not long before training camp, Gregory hasn't spoken to reporters. Garrett hesitated to indicate when Gregory might practice for the first time.

"You have brothers falling the wrong way, do you give up on them? No," Lawrence said. "We say togetherness, we say family for a reason. Randy's my brother. We stuck by him for this long time and it's time for him to ball now."

Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, also the defensive line coach, said it's a first for him to have a player back after not seeing him for a year and a half.

"Each night we have a chance in our meetings, we visit," Marinelli said. "He knows the progression that he's got to go through. He's not going to walk out there and it's going to happen. As talented as he is, it doesn't work that way. And he knows that."

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