Oakland Raiders—not Detroit Lions—to be featured on 2019 ‘Hard Knocks’

Though rumors were ramping up that the Detroit Lions may be featured on this season of HBO’s training camp documentary series “Hard Knocks,” it turns out the NFL went with their most obvious choice. On Tuesday evening, the league announced that the Oakland Raiders will be the team featured this August.

From a fan standpoint, this is a minor disappointment. The behind-the-scenes look HBO offers is unique and something this Lions team would never offer up voluntarily. That’s why we heard both general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia not-so-subtly say they want nothing to do with “Hard Knocks” in Detroit.

Obviously, the selection of the Raiders will make those two happy, and it’ll probably make the casual fan a lot more excited. The Raiders not only feature an incredibly entertaining head coach in Jon Gruden, but with personalities like Antonio Brown, Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Marshall, there should be no shortage of fireworks come training camp.

Here’s the Raiders’ teaser for the new season: