ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Remember when Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis and general manager Reggie McKenzie referred to the first two years of McKenzie’s tenure as the “deconstruction” of the team?

That was to be followed by two years of a “reconstruction.”

So now, in Year 5, what do we have exactly in Oakland?

Yes, the East Bay became a destination for highly sought-after free agents when Kelechi Osemele, Bruce Irvin, Sean Smith and Reggie Nelson chose the Raiders this offseason. But you are also seeing a sort of youth movement in the Silver and Black.

Especially with the surprising release of four-time Pro Bowl fullback Marcel Reece on Monday, a day after nine rookies played for Oakland in a 17-10 victory at the Tennessee Titans.

“We kind of pride ourselves on being a developmental staff,” said Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr.

And there it is.

Three of those nine rookies were starting on defense: first-rounder Karl Joseph at strong safety (he had a game-high 10 tackles in 61 defensive snaps, plus four more on special teams, and missed a series after halftime as he was taking extra fluids intravenously); second-rounder Jihad Ward at defensive end (four tackles in 52 total snaps); and sixth-rounder Cory James at middle linebacker (six tackles, including one for a loss, in 65 snaps, plus nine more on special teams).

Including seventh-rounder Vadal Alexander, who played more than twice as many snaps as starter Menelik Watson at right tackle -- 44 to 21 -- after replacing him when Watson went down with a calf injury.

Consider: Defensive end Shilique Calhoun, drafted in the third round, played 50 total snaps, and running back DeAndre Washington, drafted in the fifth round, led the Raiders with 57 yards rushing in 18 snaps.

The only member of the Raiders’ most recent draft class to not play was quarterback Connor Cook, who was inactive, and that’s not surprising. Nor is coach Jack Del Rio all that surprised with the early season contributions of his rookies.

“No, I think we knew," Del Rio said Monday. "The number of undrafted [rookies] might be high because I know several of those guys are undrafted guys. We felt good about the draft class, the draft picks, the guys we brought in.

“That’s a good sign for us that those guys are helping us win on the road.”

The Raiders hope it continues Sunday at the Baltimore Ravens.

Because the undrafted guys also contributed mightily.

Defensive tackle Darius Latham had two tackles in 30 total snaps, running back Jalen Richard rushed for 28 yards and returned three punts for 28 yards in 21 total snaps and receiver Johnny Holton carried for two yards on a reverse and played six snaps total.

But when it came to the two newest rookie starters on defense, all eyes were on Joseph and James.

“It’s exciting to finally see him on the field,” Norton said of Joseph, who made his NFL defensive debut at Tennessee. “It’s been a long time since he’s played, coming back from an injury.

“He shows you that he can play. It’s a matter of him understanding, getting a lot of confidence in what he’s doing, really learning this game. The NFL teaches you a lot of stuff. It’s about experiences, and right now he’s at that age where a lot of experiences are going to come up for him and he has to understand what they are and make the best of them.”

And about James, who replaced Ben Heeney?

“You can tell that guy has a lot of potential,” Norton said of James. “He plays hard. He looks the way linebackers are supposed to look: tough, throwing his body in there. He still makes the young rookie mistakes, but he makes it full-speed. He’s the type of guy that you want.

“If you had a team full of Cory James, we’d be pretty good. He’s very impressive.”

For at least one week, you could say the same about all the Raiders rookies,