Raiders player has high-flying hobby. Like football, it’s on hold for now
When it comes to his favorite pursuits, Las Vegas Raiders long snapper Trent Sieg will always put football at the top of the list.
But he also has kept up with a hobby dating to his time as a student at Colorado State: rocketry.
Fourteen-hour days out of the house back then were split between football and his newfound pastime. He even took time to return to Fort Collins in 2019, helping out during the NFL offseason.
“I’ve gone back and helped out the teams kind of take a look at some designs and ideas they’re doing,” he said. “Help them talk through the pros and cons of each idea and go out there and watch some of their test fires.”
Sieg couldn’t get back this offseason because of the global coronavirus pandemic, but hopes to enter grad school soon on his way to becoming a rocket scientist.
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For now, he’s working out while waiting to see if the NFL season will start on time and filling his days watching shows on Netflix. Of course, he also had to check out a documentary on space travel about “all the satellites we put up.”
“Every now and then I check out the ISS (International Space Station) website and view the world from up there,” he said. “That’s a pretty cool way to put things into perspective.”
Coronavirus shuts down NFL
Sieg and his wife, Carly, recently moved to Las Vegas, though not much has gone on in the Raiders’ new host city because of the coronavirus.
“I’ve never seen the city seem so lifeless with everything being shut down,” he said.
The NFL has told teams to hold off on workouts or other or other organized team activities for the time being.
“I haven’t talked to the players about the coronavirus,” Sieg said. “Just the coaches ... with scheduling and everything and trying to get an idea of when we will be back. Hopefully, we get some information on that. We haven’t got anything definitive. Just train and be ready for the season and whenever OTAs start.”
Sieg signs tender among other Raiders moves
Sieg signed his exclusive-rights tender (those are for players with two or fewer accrued seasons and an expiring contract) on March 27.
The Raiders originally added Sieg as their long snapper in 2018 to replace the injured Andrew DePaola.
“I knew it was going to happen and was just waiting for it to come across the table,” he said. “I’m just glad to be back with them and I like the organization a lot and hope to make it a lifelong career out of it.”
In addition to Sieg, the Raiders made moves in free agency, highlighted by the signing of middle linebacker Cory Littleton, formerly of the Los Angeles Rams.
In total, the Raiders have signed 11 free agents, with safety Damarious Randall the latest.
“They definitely been busy going out and trying to improve the team any way they can,” Sieg said. “It doesn’t look like they’re pulling any punches. It looks like we want to win now.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2020 at 4:33 PM.
