The biggest crossroads young players reach in their careers in the transition from year one to year two. With no more college courses getting in the way of their preparations, they have the opportunity to be all ball. To put all their efforts into taking that year two leap. Or they can put the same level of effort that made them stars at the collegiate level and see where that leads them.
Tonka Hemingway chose option one. A fourth round pick by the Raiders in the 2025 NFL Draft, Hemingway was considered a raw prospect they wanted to develop. By the end of this rookie season, he started to show his potential, putting up four sacks over the final five games.
Hemingway could have rested on that progress, but instead he chose to try and build upon
it.
Instead of going back to his home state of South Carolina to work out, he stayed in Las Vegas, taking advantage of their state-of-the-art facilities as much as they would let him. In so doing, his teammates noticed his workout regimen and gave him a team award for it.
"You see him every day in the building, he’s one of the first people in the building working and wanting to get better," said teammate Kwity Paye. "And you can just see it in camp, like he's been popping up on the field everywhere."
It's true. Hemingway's performance has been very noticeable. This included dominating one-on-one blocking drills with the offensive line. And it's the reason he is the most consistent presence among the interior defensive linemen rotation.
“Someone told me it's about sacrifices," said Hemingway. "I could have went back home and everything, but I just decided to stay out here and really go hard at it. . . I'm feeling it for sure."
But with anything, it can't just be about strength. The mental part of the game has to come along with it. First it was about listening to the guys that have done it.
“Listening to all the vets, all the older guys who've been doing it and everything, just telling [me] 'Trust yourself. You're here for a reason and you can do this.'
After that, it's realizing there's no more room for rookie mistakes.
“I'm not a rookie no more, so I just changed my whole mentality now," he continued. "You can't go out there and really look like a rookie. You know, you might have mistakes here and there, but you gotta be able to correct those mistakes as a vet.”
His efforts last season earned him his shot. And his efforts since then have enabled him to make the most of it.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Tonka Hemingway won an award from Raiders teammates and it's paying dividends
