HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ will follow the Oakland Raiders this summer

Every training camp, HBO’s Hard Knocks follows along one NFL team on its journey towards the upcoming season. There are, of course, rules about which clubs can appear on the show: teams that have a first-year head coach, have reached the playoffs in either of the last two seasons, or have already been featured in the past ten years are exempt from participation. In 2019, this left five teams available — among them the Oakland Raiders.

Yesterday, the Silver and Black were officially announced as the team to be featured on the show this summer. Over five episodes, the Raiders’ training camp will be chronicled; it certainly projects to be an entertaining show this year. While head coach Jon Gruden is the main attraction in Oakland, there are other intriguing storylines as well: from the team’s big characters — hello Antonio Brown and Vontaze Burfict — to the franchise’s planned relocation to Las Vegas in 2020.

There are also connections to the New England Patriots, most prominently in the form of Trent Brown. Tom Brady’s blindside protector during the team’s 2018 Super Bowl season left via free agency earlier this year to become the highest-paid offensive tackle in NFL history. Brown is not the only ex-Patriot in Oakland, though: fellow offensive lineman Jordan Devey and defensive backs Jordan Richards and D.J. Killings also previously spent some time in New England.

Hard Knocks premieres on Tuesday, August 6 at 10:00 p.m. ET with episodes debuting on subsequent Tuesdays at the same time until the season finale on September 3.