PodcastFrom Bootleg Football
The coolest 8-9 team in the league | The Las Vegas Raiders
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 24 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 31, 2026
Published
Mon, August 31, 2026
7
Player insights
6
Players mentioned
Topics
Fernando MendozaBrock BowersJalen NailorKirk CousinsMalik BensonMike Washington Jr.
Player analysis
Player insights
Brock Bowers
NegativeInjury17:29
The Raiders' offense struggled significantly when Brock Bowers was injured, as they lacked a reliable difference-making pass catcher to anchor the unit.
Insight pageFernando Mendoza
PositiveProjection76:58
Mendoza is a highly drafted rookie with strong physical tools, pocket presence, and the ability to pick up tough yards as a runner. Early preseason results suggest he is ready to handle rookie lumps and be effective, though the team's current plan is to start Kirk Cousins. The coaching staff and organization need to see positive progression from him, and there is a strong likelihood he takes over the starting role if the offense struggles or if the locker room demands a change.
Insight pageNegativeProjection80:57
Fernando Mendoza's development is a key factor in the Raiders' 2025 outlook. The expectation is that he will take rookie lumps but settle in by mid-to-late season, potentially helping the team win games as the game slows down for him.
Insight pageJalen Nailor
PositiveBreakout36:13
The team invested $11.6 million in Jalen Naylor, a move that is viewed favorably as he is expected to be a significant contributor to the offense.
Insight pageKirk Cousins
NegativeRole77:06
Cousins is the designated starter for the Raiders to begin the season, serving as a savvy veteran bridge. While he is expected to start, his performance is viewed as middling and inconsistent over the last three years. If the offense fails to produce under his leadership, he is at risk of being benched in favor of Fernando Mendoza, as the team cannot afford to flip-flop between quarterbacks.
Insight pageMalik Benson
PositiveUsage77:04
Malik Benson is earning trust from the Raiders' quarterbacks during the preseason. While his size pushed him down the draft board, he is showing he is more than a one-trick pony and is currently earning a bigger role, making him a strong value proposition for a late-round pick.
Insight pageMike Washington Jr.
PositiveBreakout67:03
Mike Washington Jr. is a high-upside fourth-round running back who is already exceeding expectations in training camp. Despite being labeled a 'height, weight, speed' prospect, he has shown improved feet and vision, and the analysts believe he could flash early and become a real offensive force for the Raiders.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Forget everything you knew about the Las Vegas Raiders.
0:03You were sold lies on the football field last year.
0:06Fans were led to believe that the offensive line was coached by a professional.
0:10One of the most promising rookie running backs ever looked like a bust.
0:15A top-five pass rusher over the last five years looked washed.
0:18Lies. The 2025 Raiders weren't a football team, they were a psyop.
0:22Geno protected this time, Geno over the middle, and that's picked!
0:25It's fired! His second INT of the half! Las Vegas wiped the coaching slate clean after last season, and brought in the
0:32architect of the highest scoring offense in the league last year.
0:36He in turn assembled a group of veteran coaches with Super Bowl wins, division championships, and hundreds of years of NFL coaching experience.
0:43Early returns are solid. So now we're left to ponder a much more interesting question.
0:48What if the Raiders can be bullies again? It is Mike Washington pounding over a defender!
0:53It's day 25 of the Bootleg Summer Series, and we're charting the voyage of what could be the biggest trash-to-treasure story of
1:00any team in the NFL this year. Welcome aboard the USS Bootleg, and welcome to football.
1:05Welcome to the Bootleg Football Podcast. I'm Brett Coleman.
1:08That's EJ Snyder. It's Raiders Day. We're starting AFC West week off strong.
1:12Well, they were not a strong team last year.
1:15We think they're going to be a much stronger team this year.
1:19Most of it is different, right? New coaching staff.
1:22Half the starters, at least close to half the starters are going to be different.
1:26You know, I don't want to say we were like all in on the Raiders last year.
1:32We were optimistic. That was a mistake. This year though, I'm telling you, EJ, this is the year.
1:37It's our year. They become confident. That's right. It's our year.
1:41Every year. What team do we know of that says that?
1:44Not usually the Raiders, but it does apply to Las Vegas this year.
1:48And yeah, we're not going to spend a long time on 2025 Raiders fans.
1:53You know it. You live through it. You do not want to live through it again.
1:58We will not make you. We have to talk about it a little bit, but we are going to spend a lot
2:05of time on 2026 on the coaching staff that has been assembled on all the changes on the roster, who came in
2:12and free agency, who left in free agency, who came in in the draft.
2:16So a lot of this is hopeful talk about 2026 because yes, a lot of things that needed to change have changed,
2:23and it definitely sets them off on a better foot approaching the season.
2:28We're not going to blow smoke up your can.
2:30We're not going to tell you that we think they're going to be winning the division or challenging for the Super Bowl this year.
2:38But in terms of being a competent professional football team, I think chances are real good in 2026 that we are going to see that.
2:46They'll be watchable. We'll take that for now. They'll be watchable.
2:49As always, reminder, today's sponsor, and really the entire series sponsor is our friends over at Woodinville.
2:55I have my... This is just... Wow, actually that was a much heavier pour than I thought it would be.
3:01Jesus, Brett, what are you doing? So I have to get through this throughout the show today.
3:07This is just the regular Woodinville bourbon. Nothing special.
3:09I didn't want to go with either of our barrel picks because quite frankly, don't think I can handle that right now.
3:16I wanted something quote unquote mellower. So I just have the normal six year bourbon.
3:21But again, if you want to check out their entire catalog, they have...
3:25Well, they don't have our barrel pick anymore because we sold that out.
3:29But they have cast strength. They have rye. They have bourbon.
3:33They have pork cast finish. A whole bunch of different stuff available over on Woodinville.
3:38All of it is spectacular. Even if you don't like bourbon, get the syrup.
3:42The syrup is amazing. So again, check all that out at the link in the description below or at the QR code that was on the screen.
3:51EJ, would you like to just kind of speed run?
3:54Like I have a couple points, obviously about 2025.
3:57But as far as like the results. Sure. Let's just kind of pinch our nose and get through it.
4:03That's right. We will run through this as quickly as we can.
4:06It is appropriate. The folks at home can't tell, but we are doing a Raiders episode and it is bootleg after dark.
4:13And those two things just kind of go hand in hand.
4:17So I appreciate it. Uh, 2025 overall record three and 14 ranking the division fourth home record two and seven road record one and seven last five games.
4:26One and four. Yeah, cool. We knew that EJ.
4:29Why did that happen? Well, we'll talk about the things that they are good at.
4:33Uh, there weren't very many of them. That's why it happened in terms of our effectiveness summary.
4:39We use a thing called bootleg power score. We simply assign them their league rank in six categories that we think are really important.
4:46Passing EPA per play. Rushing EPA per play. Defense against the pass and the rush.
4:51Again, figured by EPA per play. Points allowed and points scored.
4:55We take those six ranks, add them up, divide by six.
4:58That gives us a raw score. And we just stack the raw scores.
5:02And that's how good we think this team was at football last year.
5:06Spoiler alert. They were not good at football last year.
5:10Everybody already knows that. Passing EPA per play. A lot of low numbers here.
5:14Just plug your ears for a second Raiders fans.
5:1728th rushing EPA per play. Dead last. 32nd. Never want to be dead last in anything, especially not that.
5:23Pass EPA per play. Defense. 23rd. Rush EPA per play.
5:26Defense. 6th. A low and bright spot. And we'll talk about why that happened.
5:31That coach actually got retained, which is good news.
5:33Points scored. Lowest point total in the league. 32nd.
5:36They scored 241 points. Points allowed. 432. They were 25th.
5:39Their points differential is negative 191. To put that in perspective.
5:43That's unbelievable, dude. To put that in perspective, the team that won the Super Bowl, the Seattle Seahawks, were plus 191.
5:50So the exact funhouse mirror side of you were 200 points behind your opponents or you were 200 points ahead of your opponents.
5:57Anyways, all that to say, we know the 2025 Raiders were not a good football team overall.
6:02They were not a powerful football team overall. The only lone bright spot was their defense against the rush.
6:08If you add all those scores up, divide by six, your raw score is 24.33.
6:13Again, lower is better like golf. You want to be closer to number one.
6:18That put them, and this surprised me, 30th overall.
6:20Run defense was the only thing that saved them, dude.
6:24It could have been worse. Honestly, Raiders fans. I know that's hard to hear, especially watching the product that they put on the field last year.
6:32But honestly, it could have been worse. There are two teams that were less powerful than your Raiders, if you can imagine it.
6:39But the fact that, at least by point differential, every single Sunday for four months, Raiders fans woke up and said, I hope for average.
6:47And that average was losing by 12. That's incredible.
6:50Like, that is truly incredible. And I got to say, I do want to give the defense credit.
6:56They tried. Yeah, they really did try. If you're looking at like, you know, overall per play, like not volume, but per
7:03play, it's actually a decent, not even decent. It was good defense, right?
7:07They were eighth best at limiting explosive passes. They were eighth best at yards after catch per completion allowed.
7:13So they didn't allow you to go over the top.
7:16They didn't allow you to break anything off after the catch.
7:19Very good run defense, as you said. But in terms of total yards per play allowed, they were 10th best in the NFL.
7:27You know, back end, very cover three centric, which is part of the reason why they were such a good run defense
7:34is because they were damn near 50% cover three.
7:36So we're just flying downhill. We're stopping the run.
7:39We're trying to get you to third and long so Max can do his thing.
7:44But again, Max was playing hurt and our only other pass rusher they could really kind of rely on was Malcolm Koontz.
7:51And again, not really going to get much done with that, at least not without having really good interior pass rushers, which they didn't last year.
7:59They had a really good run stopping interior rotation pass rush.
8:03Not so much. The issue, though, why the defense was 25th in points allowed, even though they were top 10 and a
8:10whole bunch of individual per play metrics is because they were on the field so damn much.
8:15So, you know, even though per play they were good when your offense is 32nd in terms of plays ran, they only ran 55 plays per game.
8:24The Raiders offense that's dead last in the NFL.
8:27Right. And they were third lowest in yards per play, just 4.1.
8:30That was two yards per play worse than the Rams who were number one.
8:35So on average, the Raiders offense was lucky to get 20 yards in a possession.
8:40Eventually, the dam is going to break on defense.
8:42There's almost nothing you can do, even if you're a good defense.
8:46If your offense is only on the field for 55 plays and they're hoping to gain 20 yards in a possession, you're fucked.
8:54Like from the start, you're just absolutely fucked. Not to mention that Raiders offense second highest in terms of offensive drives ending in interceptions.
9:01Geno threw a bunch of picks. And, you know, while the defense again per play was was pretty good, they didn't get
9:08a lot of turnovers themselves, which can be fickle.
9:11They were 22nd enforcing takeaways. So your offense doesn't get any yards or gives the ball away and you're not generating short fields for your terrible offense.
9:20That leads to you just being on the field over and over and over again for like the entirety of the game.
9:27And there's not much you can do. You know, the results are predictable at that point.
9:32You know, I was looking through the past stats.
9:35I was really surprised to find out that they were sixth best against explosive pass plays or sixth fewest yards given up to explosive pass plays.
9:43Again, you see a team get trounced by this much.
9:46You think, oh, well, they're just, you know, they're letting big plays go over there.
9:51They're letting everything through when you see those kind of results.
9:54And they weren't. But again, to your point, they just had so many bites at the apple, which is not what you want on defense.
10:02You want to be able to get off the field and say we're limiting the opponent's possessions.
10:08They couldn't. They just saw possession after possession after possession.
10:11And even if they did do well against the run and limit explosives and whatever, these are longer drives.
10:17And I'm going to see 10 of them per Sunday.
10:20Oh, well, eventually the cracks are going to start to show the dam is going to fail.
10:25The water is going to come through and you're going to lose by 12 every Sunday.
10:30Yeah, I mean, they had the fourth highest run rate against them.
10:34Like in the entire league. So teams knew even if they were just kind of banging their head against a wall, you do it enough.
10:42It's going to work eventually. Now, as for that offense and why they were so bad, like, yeah, Gino turned the ball over.
10:49And, you know, when Brock Bowers is hurt, they didn't really have the guy they could rely on as a pass catcher.
10:56Again, they had a couple of guys that we like, but like none of them were like Brock Bowers in terms of a difference making threat.
11:05And Ashton Gentry. Like we love Ashton Gentry as a prospect, but there's only so much he can do when the real issue is the offensive line.
11:13They were arguably the worst offensive line in the league last year.
11:17I'm saying arguably because Browns fans, I'm sure are trying to one up Raiders fans with their trauma.
11:23Let's just say bottom three to be safe. They were literally the worst run game in the sport.
11:2830 second in the EPA per play allowed even worse than the Texans, which is like that's a low bar to clear.
11:35In terms of average yards before contact per attempt, 0.4.
11:39So pair that with also being 31st and pressure rate allowed and Brock Bowers is hurt.
11:44Ashton Gentry has no room. Geno's throwing picks. Can't pass protect.
11:47Can't run block. Like they're differentials as far as trench efficiency were 29th and 28th differential, differential meaning how good were you
11:54at rushing the passer versus blocking pass rushers? And how good were you at generating average yards before contact per attempt versus
12:01average yards before contact per attempt against you? They were bottom three in both differentials or bottom four in both differentials.
12:08So when you're getting your ass kicked on the offensive line that much, again, there's kind of nothing you can do.
12:14Part of that was because of talent. But to me, the main issue was the talent that they did have was not
12:21being maximized because of like the Brennan Carroll of it all.
12:25And if not to do revisionist history, if they hired any other offensive line coach besides Brennan Carroll, I do wonder if
12:32the staff would not have gotten cleaned out. Because to me, that seemed like the root of it all.
12:38They yes, they would have been a lot closer.
12:41We don't have to go a lot farther than the offensive line was not good for the Raiders.
12:46Again, they couldn't do anything well. They didn't give Geno a ton of time.
12:51They gave Ashton Gentty less than zero space. And there are a lot of horror stories that came out of that offensive
12:58line room towards the end of the season about players basically just kind of calling their own meetings and saying, we're going to go rogue here.
13:06We're going to go off the scheduled plan and call what we want to call because, you know, what's being set up for us.
13:14We're not being positioned for success. It was, you know, look at the end of a journey when the boat sinking lots of bad stuff happens.
13:22And it a lot of it was centered around the offensive line room and lack of connection or faith they had in their coach.
13:30And that's going to break your entire offensive system.
13:32And at that point, everybody kind of is each man for himself.
13:36They give up. You're not playing as a team anymore.
13:39You're not going to be able to achieve anything because you do need 11 guys on that side of the ball playing together to get anything done.
13:48And sometimes it still doesn't work because you get out talented or you get out coached or whatever.
13:54If the 11 guys kind of shatter and say, none of this is working, I'm going to try and save myself.
14:00That's what it really looked like offensively for the Raiders at the end of the year.
14:05You you have zero shot. The good news, and we'll get into this in the second half of the show.
14:12I don't say all the issues, the vast majority of the issues they brought in people to address pass rush.
14:18OK, we need more guys. So Kieron Crawford and Kian Sloan, you're up like add to this rotation.
14:24Give us something besides Max and a little bit of Coons that can get it done.
14:29Offensive line bringing in Linderbaum. Caleb Rogers kind of emerging is like potential starting right guard over JPJ, which OK, now we
14:36have real depth on the offensive line. Obviously new coaching staff to new quarterbacks, not even one to, you know, adding weapons
14:43like everything that that was horrible last year on paper is better this year.
14:47So on the other side of the break, we'll get into all that.
14:51Hi, alternate timeline Brett here before we get to all the 2026 stuff.
14:56If you've liked a lot of the data that we brought up so far, we have companion infographics for every single team,
15:03including the one we're talking about today with over 15000 total data points that we have collected throughout this summer.
15:09Each team gets its own companion infographic, which is roughly about 20 pages long.
15:13It has all the data on this team you can think of, whether it's alignment data, personnel data, cap allocation, coverage data
15:20broken out by down and distance blitz data. I mean, basically anything you can think of.
15:25I mean, basically anything you can think of, we've got it.
15:29So if you want access to that, you can find that down at the link in the description below or at the QR code on the screen.
15:37Reminder, we also have bonus episodes that go live every single Friday over on Patreon, recapping every single division.
15:43We're going to pick division winners, MVPs, rookies of the year, all that stuff.
15:48So if you want bonus episodes plus more data that you could probably handle, that is over on the Patreon.
15:54Thank you once again to all of our patrons that have made honestly this series possible to make in the first place.
16:01We could not have paid the people who help us make it without your guys financial support.
16:07So thank you to our patrons. Thank you to all of our executive producers on Patreon.
16:12Their names are on screen right now. They have been OG supporters of us and made so much in our lives possible
16:19while we try to chase this dream. So thank you.
16:22Thank you. Thank you. And with that, let's get back to the show.
16:26All right. From here on out, it's 2026. All the fun, happy stuff that Raiders fans came for.
16:32We'll start off with the power structure, GM coaching staff.
16:35A lot of familiar names here. Yeah. Hopefully we were brief enough for you Raiders fans that you haven't run for the hills.
16:42I do believe that is easily the shortest first half of a bootleg summer series episode yet by probably 10 minutes.
16:49So first 20% the first half. Sure. We got through it as quickly as we could.
16:54The GMs, John Spitek, the head coach is where we'll start.
16:57Clint Kubiak. So Clint Kubiak, the architect of the highest scoring offense in the league last year.
17:03Again, the aforementioned Seattle Seahawks put up a plus 191 points in terms of their differential.
17:08Well over 400 in terms of just the raw number of points their offense put up.
17:13So if you can't score points, go get the guy that's hanging the most points on opponents throughout the year.
17:19They did that with Clint Kubiak. The assistant head coach is a former head coach himself, Mike McCoy.
17:25A couple of different stops for Mike, but somebody that Clint can lead on in his first head coaching stint.
17:31Offensive coordinator Andrew Janaco. Defensive coordinator I'm going to spend a bit of time on.
17:36Rob Leonard. He is a holdover. He was the defensive run game coordinator and defensive line coach last year.
17:42The only part of that D that worked if you listen to the effectiveness summary.
17:47If you fast forwarded through it, I don't blame you, but they were sixth in the league stopping the run in terms of EPA per play.
17:55That is a very good mark. That is a top 10 defense against the run.
18:00So who's Rob Leonard? 13 years of NFL coaching experience.
18:03And interestingly enough was the Ravens outside linebackers coach in 22 under one.
18:07Mike Mack as the defensive coordinator. Hmm. So we begin to weave our web of this coaching staff because we're not done yet.
18:14We got a lot more to go. Special teams coaches, Joe D Camillis again, veteran of the NFL.
18:20If you're adding up the years of coaching experience, NFL coaching experience on this staff, it's well over 200 years worth of NFL coaching experience top to bottom.
18:29In terms of assistant coaches, offensive line, we talked about it.
18:33It was the root of all evil last year.
18:35It's not going to be this year. They might not be a top 10 unit, but Rick Denison has 29 years of
18:42NFL coaching experience, including three stints as offensive coordinator.
18:45So he's had a job above this bills, Broncos and Texans.
18:49He's been a part of four Super Bowl victories, not just for Super Bowl appearances and 13 10 plus win seasons.
18:55So Rick Denison knows where he's going in terms of how to coordinate and coach in the NFL.
19:01He is just their offensive line coach. So he is focusing on fixing the one thing that sort of rotted this team from the inside out.
19:09The past game coordinator is Nick Holes. So he coached for the Raiders for 10 years, 2012 to 21.
19:15Then he was the Titans OC for the past two years.
19:19He played at De La Salle High School in Concord, California, where he was teammates with one Brian Callahan.
19:25Brian Callahan was a De La Salle guy? Apparently so.
19:28No shit. Right. And so Brian Callahan, for those of you that don't know, is the former Titans head coach and the current Giants pass game coordinator.
19:37So Nichols was teammates and then coached under and now has an equal rank to Brian Callahan as a pass game coordinator.
19:44Was was Bill coaching in San Francisco at the time?
19:47He must have been. I didn't get to look anyway.
19:50I didn't get into the go down later. Right.
19:53I didn't get into the dad level because I would have been here all night.
19:58Defensive line coach. We talked about defensive line needing more pass rush.
20:01Yes, they have Max and Koontz, but we need to develop that other talent and come up with some counter punches.
20:08Because if you're talking about NFL pass rushing, you're talking about a rule of three.
20:13That means you need three people that can affect the passer at any given time.
20:18Can be defensive tackles. Can be two edges. Can be three edges that you play in the same package.
20:24Doesn't really matter. Travis Smith is the guy that's in charge of that line.
20:28Again, he returns to Las Vegas for his second stint with the club as the D line coach.
20:34He was there for 10 years. Huh? What were those 10 years?
20:382012 to 2021. The exact same overlap as Nick Holtz.
20:41Uh, they, and he also went to join Holson, Tennessee.
20:44Now, Holtz left a year earlier. Uh, Travis Smith was with the bears from 22 to 24.
20:49But when his stint with the bears ended, he was like, Hey, I need a job.
20:54And Nicole's is like, Hey, we coached together for 10 years.
20:58I know the head coach here. Why don't you come coach the defensive line in Tennessee?
21:03Come, you know, hang out with Jeff Simmons for a year.
21:06Okay. That sounds pretty cool. So Travis Smith comes back with holes against second stint with the Raiders.
21:12Defensive pass game coordinator. I talked about the, how they limited explosives on this team.
21:17Sixth best in the NFL at doing that through the air.
21:20Joe Woods is the hold over there. 22 years of NFL coaching experience.
21:24And this is fun. Overlapped with both Mike McCoy in 2017 and Denison in Denver for 2015 and 2016.
21:31Cause Woods was there for four years. Denison was there for 15 and 16.
21:35He left McCoy came in. Woods was still there.
21:38So all three coaches on this staff were on the Broncos.
21:41Those together. Other notables on this staff, if that wasn't enough, Steve for rents, son of long time, Iowa head coach, Kirk
21:48for rents and Cody Grimm, son of hall of fame, offensive lineman, Russ Grimm are also on this staff.
21:54So if you start doing the board with the thumbtacks and the yarn on this particular staff, you end up winding 200
22:01years worth of NFL coaching experience before you kind of go, okay, I feel better about the room here.
22:07This is kind of tying it all together. So I got a couple more for you.
22:12Keep going. You didn't go to the dad level.
22:15I didn't go to the dad level. So Brian Callahan born in 1984.
22:19That's 14 years old. That hurts. His freshman year of high school, De La Salle.
22:24That was when his dad took a coaching job with the Oakland Raiders.
22:28Ah, there you are. So Bill Callahan was there all through in Oakland.
22:32Yes. That was the second time they were in Oakland?
22:36Yes. Correct. No, second. Yes. But either way, he was with Oakland the entire time while Brian Callahan was in high school
22:43at De La Salle, which is where he met Nicole.
22:46Here's another one. Another dad level research. So Andrew Janako, right?
22:49Spent a long time in Minnesota. Yes. In 2019, that was when Gary Kubiak came over to the assistant head coach.
22:56Right? So 2019, 2020. And Janako, he actually rotated multiple different position coach duties under Gary Kubiak.
23:01So he was the co-offensive line coach with the Vikings.
23:04Gary comes over in 2019. Then he's the assistant offensive line coach.
23:08I should look up who the 2019 Vikings main offensive line coach was.
23:12Maybe it was a Callahan. I don't know. Either way, assistant offensive line coach under Gary Kubiak in 2019, then moved to wide receivers coach in 2020.
23:21Then quarterbacks coach in 2021. Gary was gone by 2021, but Clint came over to be the OC.
23:27So he was developing at the time, Sean Mannion, who was a quarterback on the Vikings.
23:32He was the quarterback's coach under Clint. Again, all this shit is just tied together.
23:36It's a family business. I don't want to say nepotism, but like kind of.
23:41Yeah. It is when you know each other when you're like 14.
23:45It is a relationship business. It always has been again, where those are.
23:49Those relationships start is some of the fascination we have with coaching staffs and who gets jobs and who gets held and who gets fired for different reasons.
23:58You know, different circles over. It's like one big rotating Venn diagram with like 10 different family circles and lots and lots and lots of overlap.
24:06Just wild. Yeah. But that's how a staff comes together is, you know, you call each other up and say, hey, you want to.
24:14Are you free? Are you free? Very rarely is it like people interviewing a whole bunch of people for one assistant coach.
24:21Like, no, you already know who you want to hire.
24:24You just text him, see if he wants to move his kids.
24:28It's that's it. It's fascinating to me. That's really how it works.
24:31That's why when you see a guy that we called out, what is it?
24:36Five years ago now on the Cowboys staff when it was Aiden Durda.
24:40Right. Who is now the defensive coordinator for the Seahawks.
24:43But like his resume, completely non traditional again, was part of the international pathway, international player program IPB and was actually an executive in that program.
24:51He had coached in Europe and then he took like a coaching internship.
24:55I think it was with the Jaguars. I'm not sure.
24:59I'm looking it up right now. Yeah, you're correct.
25:01Yeah. So he's over in the States and basically, you know, coaching for very little money and just doing it for experience,
25:08then went back and I think was part of the IPP program and then got hired on to be like an assistant DL coach back.
25:16So you had like eight different jobs in football, you know, different sides of the pond.
25:21He bounced between the Scottish Claymores, the Carolina Panthers and the Hamburg Sea Devils and then the Chiefs.
25:27That's right. Let's just go back and forth. And finally got his shot to be part of the Cowboys defensive line coaching
25:34rotation and then, you know, made himself a star there and ends up being Mike Mack's first hire as defensive coordinator.
25:41When Mike, who is a famous defensive coordinator, got his first head coach job.
25:45I'm always fascinated when somebody, you know, cut their chops on one side of the ball or the other one role and who they're going to hire.
25:54Right. If they were a young hop shot quarterbacks coach, who's going to be their quarterbacks coach when they become a head coach?
26:01It's always interesting to me. I think there's a little extra emphasis on that role.
26:06So whenever you see folks that have that non-traditional path that didn't, you know, weren't necessarily roommates with ex NFL coaches, kids,
26:13brother, you know, you just go, oh, that guy, that guy earned it.
26:17Like he was showing up in meetings and people were like, yeah, he's yeah, he coached in Scotland, but dude can coach.
26:24Yeah, it's fun, man. It's really fun just seeing the paths these guys take.
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27:55And with that, let's get back to it. You know, some of the free agents honestly look the same where it's like
28:02every year they pop up on a new team.
28:05Some of the ones we're going to talk about today, same thing.
28:08Like journeyman is an understatement. We'll go through the departures first.
28:12It's a long list as you would expect for a new regime coming in.
28:16Usually lots of turnover here. So Alex Kappa gone.
28:19Raheem Mostert gone. Tyler Lockett gone, but never forgotten.
28:22I don't think he's officially retired yet, but he's 34 and I maybe kind of feels like that's probably it.
28:28Right. Yeah. Lonnie Johnson. God, Lonnie Johnson's 31 already.
28:31Mm hmm. There's a lot of that on this list.
28:34So I was like, oh yeah, a lot of names moving on.
28:38Same thing. Turnover in the organization. Holy crap. That guy has been in the year.
28:43Like when did that happen? Yeah. My God. Uh, Geno Smith.
28:46Now the, I guess you can say starter for the jets.
28:50Sure. We'll, we'll see if that lasts the year.
28:53Uh, Dylan Parham, uh, also with the jets. Devin white is now with the lions.
28:57Kenny pick it is with the Panthers stone Forsyth.
29:00He's almost at 30, baby. If stone Forsyth makes it to 30, I'm going to claim victory on that one.
29:07Okay. Say that. However it works to the 30.
29:10We're good. However it works, man. Uh, Tyree Wilson, uh, got traded to the saints.
29:14Uh, a Landon Roberts is now with the Steelers and Jamal Adams signed with the Vikings.
29:19I actually thought he was going to play a prominent role with the Vikings.
29:24He was, it seemed like he was. And then he tore his quad again, which I've never seen somebody tear their quad.
29:31I think it both quads individually in different injuries, years apart.
29:34It's such a random freak thing. Yeah. And it, it happened to him twice.
29:39Super disappointing because again, Flores had, didn't just have plans for him was already executing those plans with a veteran defender who
29:46has a skillset that Flores just loves in terms of disruption, size, power, versatility.
29:50I can play close to the line. I can play farther away.
29:54I can use speed, which it's declined to Jamal Adams, but he still has it relative to his size.
30:00And he was just going to be such a fun chess piece in that defense.
30:05And you get all hyped up for the fit.
30:08You're like, Oh yeah, that would be a good landing spot.
30:11So a lot of places Jamal Adams could have signed where I would have been like, yeah, whatever.
30:17I don't care. He signs in Minnesota. I'm like, let's go.
30:20We get like six weeks of that. And then he's injured now for the year.
30:25It's just, it's a bummer for everybody involved. I'm not sure Flores has got it about it.
30:30Jamal obviously has, you know, rehab to do and all the Vikings fans who were looking forward to it.
30:36Um, you know, now none of us get to see it and that's, that's just no fun for anybody.
30:42In terms of who they resigned the aforementioned Malcolm Kuntz big money, 11 million 28.
30:47Like he is 28 years old, $11 million. I think he has been on the edge of being a very productive edge rusher for a while.
30:55He has been a very good low level Robin, high level Alfred, right, right back and forth across that line.
31:02Yeah. Somewhere in that. Yeah. Maybe he's Nightwing. Is that, is that sure?
31:06Yeah. Dick Grayson. We can go with that for all the DC fans out there.
31:11Uh, I, I like his contribution. I have been waiting for him.
31:15I was a big fan of his coming out, uh, when he was drafted and thought that he could progress a little
31:22bit farther and maybe he will this year. Again, they've assembled a better, uh, cadre of talent.
31:27He's not going to have to do as much himself.
31:30He had to do a lot last year when again, there were injuries.
31:34He was coming back from a year injured himself.
31:37Like it just, it was not a great situation all the way around.
31:41We already covered that for the Raiders. I'm hoping that he can sort of get back to where he was in terms of providing some stability of impact.
31:50Like he, he was making impact, not maybe as much as you want, but he was making it consistently.
31:56And that's important. You need those guys on your team.
31:59Eric Stokes, the cornerback 27 years old, he gets $10 million.
32:03I like that deal as well. And then friend of the show, one of the best interviews we have ever done on
32:10this channel, Thomas Booker book sign for 20, he's 27 years old for $3.6 million to be a rotational defensive tackle piece.
32:17Had a nice sack in a preseason game. I texted him.
32:20I was like, great, great sack. I was like, nice sack book.
32:24You know, we still talk occasionally. One of the sharpest guys you will ever talk to.
32:29And I'm not just talking about football, uh, business life, the way he organizes his time, just a total class act, love book.
32:36So always going to call him out when I see him on the list.
32:41And by the way, also is a, one of the big reasons why they were top six against the run is because
32:48again, didn't get a whole lot of the entire interior defensive line group did not get a whole lot of pressure, but
32:55they kicked the shit out of people in the run game.
32:58And he was one of them. It was him Butler, like all of them.
33:03They were, they were really good against the run.
33:06And if you can do that, you're going to play forever.
33:09So good on him. Uh, again, 3.6 for a rotational DT that at minimum is going to be able to play that role for me.
33:17If not more, I like that deal for them.
33:20As far as, uh, where they spent their money outside the building, Spencer Burford, similar kind of price tag, actually, but 3.2
33:27million could, uh, potentially be their 17 game starter at left guard.
33:31We'll see what happens with the Rogers JPJ battle.
33:33Like maybe one of them and Raiders fans, you can actually tell me if I'm full of shit here.
33:40I get the sense that Burford's gonna be the left and then they're choosing between Rogers and JPJ at right.
33:46Not whoever wins the right guard spot would then play left.
33:49Like it kind of feels like whoever doesn't win the job is going to be the swing.
33:55If I'm wrong in terms of how, how I'm interpreting practice reports, please tell me, but I kind of feels like Burford's
34:02going to be a starting guard for like 3 million.
34:05Yes. Under three and a half. Right. Uh, to Ron Johnson is coming into not more than likely not be their quote
34:12unquote starting nickel, probably going to be rotational guy for them.
34:15But he's a vet who's done it all. And he's been around forever.
34:19Great presence to have in the room. Uh, Quiddy pay 16 million for Quiddy pit.
34:24Like I get it. The top of the markets 50 that, that one was like, all right, fine.
34:30Whatever. Uh, Jalen Naylor. This one I actually did like 11.6 for Jalen Naylor.
34:34I like that a lot. I think he's going to be really nice contributor for them.
34:39Okay. Here's, here's a thought exercise for you. Switch those two numbers.
34:43I, I guess. I guess. Sure. You'd be happier with Quiddy at 11.
34:47Come on. Sure you would. Yeah. Yeah. You'd be happy.
34:51I'm 11. You'd feel like Naylor at 16. That's pretty rich, but if they like him and again, we like the fit there.
34:58So I, you know, those two numbers, it just felt like they had a lot of money to spend and they're like, fuck it.
35:05Like what else are we going to spend it on?
35:09Yeah. We're going to stack depth at these positions, which is not a bad thing.
35:13And who knows with injuries and they've had them along the defensive line.
35:18Quiddy pay could end up playing a role for this team.
35:21Is it going to be a lead role? Is it going to be an important role?
35:26Is he going to like take another step from where he was, which we both really feel like he needs to do.
35:33We don't know. We don't know that he won't though.
35:36So we'll see. N'Kobe Dean also brought it at 12 million.
35:40You know, when N'Kobe's been healthy, he's put out some really good tape.
35:44He's a great player. He's very, very smart. He is takes tremendous angles.
35:48He is again, tough when healthy, right? Can take on blocks if he needs to.
35:53It was never his strength. He was always quick enough to get around them and still make the play without losing ground.
36:00But very smart in terms of positioning, anticipation, formation.
36:03You know, it's just got to have him on the field.
36:06And when you do, yes, he's an absolute plus asset.
36:09He's going to be starting next to Quay Walker, who got a similar size deal.
36:1413 and a half million started out rough in Green Bay.
36:17Came on later in his career, right around your.
36:20I would say year three started to turn the corner.
36:24Year four was like, all right, this is starting to work now.
36:27But like clearly edge edge Cooper was the better of the two in Green Bay.
36:32So if you're going to prioritize keeping one long term, it's going to be edge edge is probably going to get a market resetting deal after this season.
36:41If I had to guess. Yeah. But Quay Walker has turned into a quality player, especially with where he started out early in his career.
36:49He has turned around and become a solid starter.
36:52Kind of reminds me of like Patrick Queen, right?
36:55Like early Patrick Queen. It's like you saw the concept of Patrick Queen and then he went to Pittsburgh and became a
37:02better player than what he was in Baltimore. So sometimes it just takes a little while for linebackers to turn it on.
37:09Dario Gumbawale brought in, you know, a to add to the running back room, but really he's there for special teams.
37:15He's always been a great special teamer. Again, he's going to play forever because of that.
37:20He's a 32 year old running back. You're not getting running back contracts at 32 unless you can really, really play special teams and he absolutely can.
37:29And then, of course, the biggest deal of them all, obviously, Tyler Linderbaum.
37:3327 million a year might be the poster child for we have the money.
37:37We don't care. We're just going to spend it.
37:40You know, this might end up being a deal that the rest of the league just ignores because you saw you saw
37:47other teams signing starting centers for like a third of that.
37:51I think Cade Mays was like 8.3 or be honest.
37:54What either be honest or mays was like a third of the contract.
37:58Hell, both of them might have been. And if you're getting a quality starting center for 16 less million dollars per year.
38:05Yeah, that kind of feels like a contract where the rest of the league is like, all right.
38:11You guys do you. We're not paying that. I would highly doubt that the next center contract that comes up is going
38:18to even remotely approach 27 based on where the rest of the market is at.
38:22Like even Creed's not getting 27 million and Creed obviously to me is the best center in the league.
38:29I don't think the Chiefs would pay him 27 million.
38:32This contract to me. Is just we have nothing.
38:35We have absolutely nothing like we dealt with the Andre James experience here.
38:39He completely ruined our run game almost single handedly.
38:42We will pay anything to not have to deal with that again.
38:45And in their view or rather in Clint Kubiak's view again, you look at his dad Gary.
38:51When they were really cooking in Houston, they had Chris Myers.
38:54They had a top five center in the league.
38:57Some would even say top three. Some people being me back then Chris Myers was incredible.
39:02He was one of the main reasons why Arian Foster was Arian Foster's because him and him and Arian work together so well.
39:09Maybe that's a topic for another day, but like you can't have an elite wide zone run game without having a really
39:16good center to go with your really good running back.
39:20And so I think to them, they see Tyler Linderbaum as a force multiplier in the run game, which then makes Ashton
39:27Gentty better, which then gives them easier downs and distances to work with for Kirk or Fernando or whoever starting.
39:33And I think they feel like, okay, if we're getting plus contract value out of our young running back and out of
39:40our young quarterback, we're at least going to spend the money on something that can make their lives easier so that we
39:47can maximize the contract value of those guys in a vacuum.
39:50Does it make sense to pay your center? Probably not.
39:54But if they're paying a center 27 million who can then make, you know, a cheap quarterback play like he's worth 35,
40:00that to me, I think is the math they're doing in their head of like, it'll all balance balance out in the wash.
40:08But they cannot go through another year of bottom three center play.
40:12And that's being generous. And so they were going to spend whatever they had to spend.
40:17They had the cash to do it. They had the cap space to do it.
40:21Damn the market. Everybody else can ignore the contract.
40:24But for the Raiders specifically in their situation with the type of offense, they're going to run and a young quarterback and a young running back to them.
40:33It made sense. And I, I understand the thinking what I have done it.
40:38No, but I understand why they did it. I think you're right about two things, three things in there.
40:44One is the rest of the league is like, okay, everybody in that situation lost their mind.
40:49We agree. We're just going to pretend it didn't happen and move on with the way we used to do things with centers.
40:56And yes, we'll continue to bump it up by five, 10% per year to have market setting deals.
41:02But we, we're just going to agree not to see that over there.
41:06Guys that get paid big money in free agency.
41:09And this is by any measure, big money in free agency.
41:13Yeah. Inside that position group or not are a couple of things.
41:16They are, you said force multipliers. That's a big one, right?
41:20This player makes other players on our roster better.
41:23So we're going to get them. We're going to add them to our room.
41:27And the other one is foundational cornerstones. Like we're going to start something and we have, again, we have nothing.
41:33We're going to build it around something. We're going to build a young offensive line in front of a highly drafted signal caller.
41:41I think they knew they were bringing Fernando in and that he was going to be the number one pick.
41:47That was one of the sort of least cloak and dagger number one picks in a long time.
41:53Everybody was like, yeah, unless they just really don't like him.
41:56He's the guy. He's going to be a Raider going on that.
42:00Linderbaum is both. He's a force multiplier and he's a foundational player that they can build something, anything else around.
42:06It's kind of like putting a rock at the middle of the bay and letting the coral reef form around it.
42:13Right. It's like, nope, he's our rock. And he makes our young quarterback better and our highly drafted young running back better.
42:20And, and, and, and yeah, Clint looked at all his experience, all his dad's experience and went without good center.
42:26And I mean a good center. We're talking top 12, right?
42:30Top third of the league. This offense does not run well.
42:33He's been around it. His dad was around it.
42:36This offense is going to struggle without a center.
42:39Okay. You present those sort of three or four cases to the top brass and say, we're thinking about paying this guy
42:46like ludicrous money, but he does this. He does this.
42:49And he does this. He checks all three boxes for us.
42:53What do you say? The owner goes, I've seen it without.
42:56I'm done with that. If you think it's important to running your system and you think he's going to make what we already have in the barn better.
43:05Sure. Here's the check. I don't, I don't really care.
43:08I mean, look at the lions without Frank rag now.
43:11Right. Look at, you know, with not just Chris Myers, but look at Alex Mack.
43:16Yeah. Right. And how much he benefited his teams.
43:19My favorite stories are about Mac. Yeah. My favorite stories about Alex Mack and Max Unger are when they moved.
43:25Yes. Right. And the team that moved him went.
43:28Shit. We kind of under thought that we, you know, the executives, both of those teams were like, if we could have
43:35had that move back, we could have had a do over.
43:39We wouldn't have done that. We, we kind of under, we talked ourselves into underestimating their importance on our team and they left and we went, ah, shit.
43:48We can't do that anymore. Dude, look at, um, you know, the Eagles post Kelsey.
43:52Um, I would say the, the Cowboys really struggled to replace Travis Frederick.
43:57You know, you look at the jets post Nick Mangold.
44:00Like when you have that guy at center and then you no longer have that guy at center, like it hurts.
44:06It hurts a lot. Yeah. So, and believe me as a Texans fan, I've, I've, I've seen it.
44:12I've seen what happens when you have a great center and then you no longer do.
44:17We've still been trying to replace Chris Myers for actually, no, we had, we had a little stint where Ben Jones is
44:24in Ben Jones was good, but like post Ben Jones, which was a decade ago.
44:29They, they've never had that guy. I mean, the chargers had a guy for like a couple months, then he got injured.
44:36Like ask the chargers if they wish they could have remotely good center play.
44:40So I, I get it. I get it. So, uh, with that, should we get into the draft and talk about that
44:47very obvious first overall pick and why he was the very obvious first overall pick?
44:52Yeah. I think we probably should. Again, you have to start in the trenches.
44:56We strong believers in that, that, you know, the trenches are where you start and outside of that.
45:02Either on offense or defense is where you finish, right?
45:05You start with defensive line players and you finish with corners.
45:09When you're ready, you start with offensive line players and you get the running back or the quarterback to cap it off, right?
45:16If that's your build or you get a young quarterback, put a very good offensive line, young, hopefully offensive line in front of them.
45:24But actually any way you can get it done, I'm not going to quibble just a good offensive line to see what they can do.
45:32And then you surround them with weapons, right? But you start in the middle, in the center, closer to the ball.
45:38And again, they kind of had a, well, they didn't kind of, they had a ton of money and they had a
45:45very high pick because they were terrible last year.
45:48And it's like, well, we can do, we can do both at once.
45:52We have some investments. We have a couple players on the offensive line.
45:56We have Colton Miller and hopefully JPJ. If he gets healthy, we invested in him.
46:01And if we go get ourselves a center, again, a foundational piece to kind of hang those other pieces off of and say, he's going to be good.
46:10We know that the other players will be again, force multiplied.
46:14Yeah, we can get the signal caller. Now we might not play him.
46:18And they have said multiple times that they are not going to play Fernando.
46:22I don't think that's going to hold super long for multiple reasons.
46:26I think Kirk Cousins is a nice veteran to have.
46:29I know he thinks he's going to start. We'll see.
46:32Savvy veteran, Kirk Cousins. He's starting early. Yes. It's more so how long.
46:36And they have said repeatedly, it's not going to happen.
46:40And those of us that watch the league, many of us, not just you and I, have said, yeah, that's, you know,
46:47there are a lot of things that could melt that hardcore stance real quickly.
46:51And I actually don't think that's bad. Given what we have seen from Fernando Mendoza, again, one, one first round, first overall pick quarterback of national champion, Indiana.
47:00Very quick learner, good physical tools, big and strong in the pocket.
47:04Can run has sort of deceptive wheels. It's not his main game, but he has shown the ability to pick up tough yards famously.
47:11And more of a tough runner than an elusive.
47:14Yeah, he's it's again, it's not what he's going to lean on.
47:18He is first going to stand back there and go through his progressions.
47:22He is learning a new system, and that's fine.
47:25He is learning under center play action with Kubiak.
47:28That is the the Kubiak way. And quarterbacks will learn it come hell or high water.
47:33I think that's well within his roundhouse. And the early results, in my eyes, from the play we have seen, the very
47:40limited small sample size that we've seen from Mendoza is he's more than ready to take his rookie lumps.
47:46I think he can be in there and be effective.
47:49The balance when you're talking about starting a highly drafted quarterback early is, is he going to get killed?
47:55And if he gets killed, is that going to break his confidence?
47:59Which are two different things, because some guys, you can throw them up against a brick wall all season long and they'll be like, I'm good coach.
48:07No problem. Other guys, you know, they get three or four games into that.
48:12The press starts dumping on their head about, oh, maybe they're not the chosen one and they go in the tank.
48:19And that's that's an independent thing of, oh, are we going to ruin him physically or are we going to ruin him mentally?
48:26Either way, you have to worry with a young quarterback.
48:29If you have offensive line in front of him and you think that guy's mentally tough and can shake it off and go, nope, I understand.
48:37It's a learning process. I won't do it again.
48:40And you're in a place where the door opens to start that guy and have him have a positive progression, which is
48:47what you need no matter what, no matter how you approach it, no matter how long he sits, no matter who the coaching staff is.
48:55If you have a young, highly drafted signal caller, you need positive progression.
48:59However you can get it, if that's sitting him for a couple of years, fine.
49:04If that's starting him right away, that's fine. If he can run for his life and you think that's OK, we'll call that the Cam Ward experiment.
49:12You know, sure, whatever. But you need that guy to grow and show signs that, hey, if I continue to invest and
49:19put pieces around him, he's the right guy and I don't have to go back through this quarterback cycle again.
49:26Mendoza, at least in the early going, has shown me that I think I would put him out there sooner rather than later.
49:33I mean, you basically just answered our patron viewer note.
49:36I'll read that off here. You know, I think it's as good a time as any to bring it up.
49:43This comes from Connor said for my Raiders. Where do you stand on when to start Mendoza?
49:48Specifically after the first few weeks when we have an absolute murderers row until our week 13 by would you drop him
49:55in during that run of brutal opponents or wait until after the late by to start him?
50:00So I'm going to I'm going to read you guys off the Raiders schedule because if you guys are not Raiders fans,
50:07you might not know how how crazy this is.
50:10So. Week one, which is when a lot of people are advocating to start him because it's their quote unquote weakest opponent of the year.
50:18They're at home against the Dolphins week one. Obviously, Kirk is going to start week one.
50:23They've made that kind of clear abundantly clear. Yes.
50:26Right. And then road game against the Chargers, road game against the Saints, hosting the Chiefs, road game against the Patriots, then the Bills and the Rams.
50:35You don't get the Jets until November. So you're basically going two months in between your two most quote unquote beatable opponents.
50:42Whatever you think of the Saints, whatever you think of the Chiefs, like those are probably the two most beatable opponents or the Dolphins and the Jets.
50:50After that, on the road against the 49ers, hosting the Seahawks, on the road against the Broncos, on the road against the
50:57Browns, which say what you want about the Browns offense.
51:00I still think the defense is it has a bunch of pieces that you really don't want to mess with.
51:07Then you got the Chargers, then the Broncos again.
51:10And like it eases up a little bit towards the end with the Titans and the Cardinals.
51:15But like. There's not really like a great stretch here where we can get three easy games in a row, quote unquote, easy games in a row.
51:24So here's what I'll say. My answer to this question is you start Mendoza.
51:28When the locker room makes it clear that they want you to start Mendoza.
51:32Yeah, because a lot of these guys like, yeah, they're getting paid good money.
51:37They want to win. They want to be put into situations where they can play well, put out good tape and get paid and feed their family.
51:45And if everybody in the building feels like they're spinning their wheels and wasting opportunities to both win games and also put out good tape.
51:53To pay their bills and feed their families, they're going to revolt.
51:57And so you listen to your veteran leaders who have a pulse in the locker room.
52:02If Max comes to you, if Colton comes to you and says, hey, man, like you're starting to lose the guys.
52:09We got to do something here. That's when you see Mendoza come in.
52:13I don't even I wouldn't peg it to a certain week.
52:16I would peg it to a vibe. If they're competitive, he might not start at all this year.
52:22Yep. But if they're not competitive. You're going to see him pretty early.
52:26I would say that. And I think there's only one way to do that.
52:31I think you're correct about the when and the balance and the tipping point to start him.
52:36You have to start Kirk to make that work.
52:39You cannot start Mendoza early and then pull him, have Kirk come in and play.
52:44I mean, at this point, I really think Kirk is a middling starter.
52:48Like he's not going to blow the doors off anybody.
52:51He can in a given week, but we haven't really seen that consistently for like three years now.
52:57And in the NFL, that's a long time. So is it still in there?
53:01Maybe. Is it going to be in there from week to week?
53:05I doubt it. But you can't go back to him as your relief pitcher and then wait until he falters again and then go back to Mendoza.
53:14That that progression doesn't work. You have to start Kirk.
53:17And if Kirk plays himself out of a job, it becomes very easy.
53:21To your point, if you are not competitive and the reason is the offense, not the defense giving up easy points or
53:28anything else, but the offense just can't get it going.
53:31Lots of three and outs, very few points, bunch of field goals, no touchdowns over the first month.
53:37The restlessness is going to come, but it's going to come saying, hey, we got a guy that we invested a high pick in.
53:44He looked pretty good in the preseason. I know he's a rookie, but like, can it be worse than what we're dealing with right now?
53:52To your point, if Kirk comes in and they score and they're competitive, it'll be smooth sailing.
53:58And the Raiders would be fine with that, to be clear.
54:01Mendoza can learn behind him, see what it looks like when it's working well.
54:06Doesn't have to get exposed to a bunch of extra punishment and take over the reins whenever he needs to take over the reins.
54:13If that's when Kirk gets hurt midseason and that's a natural transition, cool.
54:17Or if it's all the way through the season and Mendoza doesn't have to play until the Raiders presumably have a possible
54:24playoff spot wrapped up and he plays those last two or three games against weaker opponents.
54:29Great. That would be a very natural progression. Las Vegas would have no problem with that.
54:34But if Kirk comes in and again, you have to start Kirk.
54:38He plays four or five games. They just kind of muddle along and everybody on that roster in the same way goes,
54:45hey, man, we would like to see some good results here.
54:49Are you sure the kid's not better? Are you sure?
54:52And a week or two of that. That's it.
54:55That's when you pull the trigger and say, all right, it's officially Mendoza's team and we're riding with him because you can't
55:02really go back to Kirk after that barring an injury.
55:05No, you're not going to you're not going to Bryce Young him.
55:09You're right. Exactly. And even then, like the Panthers kind of got lucky that it sort of worked out with Bryce.
55:15Indeed, because he got benched. The only time the only reason Bryce came back in when he did is because remember, Andy got into a car accident.
55:24Yep. Like we we don't know if Bryce would have got back on the field.
55:29Probably wouldn't have given recent NFL experience. It felt like that had run its course.
55:33And again, Bryce has said himself mentally he wasn't in a place when he got benched.
55:39He deserved to get benched. He knew why he got benched and he didn't know how to get out of it at that point.
55:46Yeah. He said he got in his car and just started driving to Atlanta.
55:51Yeah. And just driving. Right. And he got another opportunity.
55:54And again, because of who his coaches were and everything else, it's it is, to your point, a little miraculous that all
56:01of those things came together and it worked. And he was in a mental place to be ready.
56:06And he rose the challenge and he raised his game.
56:10And again, there was an opportunity that he wasn't expecting to get.
56:13So that is not a typical in any way path to developing a quarterback.
56:18Not that there is one way or a book, but you can't hop back and forth.
56:23And in order for this to work as well as it can, you start Kirk.
56:28If that works great. You don't have to change.
56:31That's great. Everybody will be happy. Right. But if you start Kirk and they cannot get it going and the offense is
56:38the problem and the engine of the offense being the quarterback, those those voices, those veteran leaders that you referenced, they'll they'll come from within pretty quickly.
56:46Yeah. You're going to get a call from Mr.
56:49Davis of like, the hell are we doing here?
56:52Yeah. Like now's the time coach. Yeah, for sure.
56:55Anyway, the rest of the draft is also good.
56:58Yeah. And there's no shortage of picks either. This was a pretty healthy draft.
57:02So they have the first, which was Mendoza, a second, two thirds, two fourths, two fifths, a sixth and a seventh.
57:09This was a restocking draft and their boy, the Raiders really needed it.
57:13I think they did tremendously well before we go through all the names.
57:17There's a lot of talent on this board and they got talent late too, which is something I love to see from
57:24from a draft evaluator standpoint is, hey, everybody says all fifth round picks.
57:28They're not worth anything. Six round picks. They're a lottery throw.
57:31So not in this draft class. Let me tell you, there's some good players.
57:36They got down the board, even in what was considered, quote unquote, a weak class.
57:41So in round two, pick 38 to get trading Stukes.
57:44He's listed as a cornerback. I'm just going to call him secondary defensive back out of Arizona because he played a bunch of safety.
57:51He played close to the line. He played deep.
57:54He played some nickel corner. He's all over the field.
57:58He's a very talented defender. He is rangy. He will hit the shit out of you when he comes from depth.
58:04Very fun player. He's older, and that was a knock against him.
58:08He's 24, almost 25 when he was drafted. 24.6 years old when he was drafted.
58:13A lot of people had that as a negative along with some injuries.
58:17But boy, when you put the tape on, explosive, instinctive playmaker.
58:20Really, really like this player. The reason why earlier I said Thron Johnson might not be the starting nickel is because if
58:27they're in a three safety nickel, I think Stukes would be the nickel.
58:31I fully agree. And then Pullemau and Chin would be the other two safeties.
58:36Again, that's just how I'm interpreting practice reports here.
58:39If they just have two safeties on the field, I do think that Stukes has taken Pullemau's job.
58:44And then if they want like a corner as a nickel, like a true corners nickel, it would be Thron.
58:51I guess we'll figure out week one what it looks like.
58:54But they have two guys who could legitimately play nickel for them.
58:58If they want a three safety look, it would be Stukes.
59:02If they want three corners, it would be Thron.
59:04You know, maybe we see some masses there, Hezekiah masses.
59:08But, you know, for the first time in a while, it feels like they actually have like good options.
59:14Yeah, like the whole secondary to play roles. Three or four guys behind the starting five.
59:19However, you look at the starting five in the secondary, they have three or four reserves who can play really good roles.
59:26And we'll get to one of them here in the fourth round.
59:30But we'll keep going through the third pick 67.
59:32Kieran Crawford, the edge out of Auburn. Big, really good frame.
59:36Strong, solid edge setter. Has some flash for pass rush.
59:39You know, he reminds me a little bit of Koontz.
59:42He's in my mind, some ways a taller version of Koontz.
59:46And that's not a backhanded compliment. I said earlier in the show, there's a big Koontz fan coming out.
59:52You know, didn't necessarily have a gaudy stat profile.
59:55He was one of those guys who was closer more often, but didn't necessarily finish.
59:59But you saw the flashes of everything you needed in terms of strength, length, power moves.
60:04They just didn't always come together. There's still development to make that consistent.
60:09But from a tools basis, 67? SEC experienced edge rusher?
60:12I thought this was a very solid pick. It's a guy who just gives you a little bit of everything, right?
60:18He's got like decent first step, decent fluidity, decent power.
60:22He's not like a true weakness there. I wouldn't say there's an overwhelming strength or like a signature move.
60:28But as far as like down eating edges go, that you can put him on the field and feel good about it.
60:35He's going to contribute. He's going to be part of a rotation.
60:38Maybe he's like their new boy, A. Mafé, like in terms of the upside play.
60:43Do I ever think he's going to be in Max's realm remotely?
60:47No, I think Max was more talented. But again, what round was Max drafted in?
60:52Third or fourth. Exactly. So nobody thought that about him at the time either.
60:56He was athletically more gifted. But a lot of, you know, we were like, man, if he could be a like high
61:03impact, high energy DPR, that's a win for them.
61:06And then Max became Max. So it does happen.
61:09I think it's less likely for Kieran. But to your point, even if he's just what he is right now, the floor
61:16is playable and incredibly useful in the NFL. Second pick in the third round at 91, they get Trey Zune, the third
61:23interior offensive lineman out of Texas A&M. I think he's eventually going to be a starter for them.
61:28He has those level of traits. You might say, oh, he was, you know, he was 91st, barely top 100.
61:35For interior offensive lineman, that doesn't really mean anything.
61:38We see a lot of starters around the league who were picked there and later, fourth round, fifth round, even sixth round.
61:45Trey Zune has very good power. And I believe, again, we see so many injuries along the offensive line.
61:51Raiders have seen them a ton, too many, too often.
61:54A lot of Raiders fans would say guys like JPJ.
61:57I think when the opportunity presents itself for Trey, as most likely as a guard will probably be his first starting experience.
62:04He might not be one of the guys that gets that job and never gives it up.
62:09We have we have the feeling about some players.
62:12Man, if this guy ever gets in the lineup, he's never leaving.
62:16I feel like he could be in the lineup for five or six games, gain some valuable starting experience, and then maybe go back to the bench.
62:25And then maybe the next time he gets in, he's just like super rock solid for the next three or four years.
62:32They just keep stacking depth pieces on the offensive line over the last couple drafts where, OK, I can see the upside with the Charles Grant.
62:40I can see the upside with Trey. I can see the upside with Caleb Rogers.
62:45Jordan Meredith. OK, maybe not so much, but like one of Rogers or JPJ will be a swing guard.
62:51Grant and Zune are both swing tackle candidates. They seem locked in on DJ Glaze at right tackle, but like they have
62:58two guys that if DJ Glaze doesn't play well, they can throw out there and see what they got.
63:04Two very talented guys. I mean, their third guard or fourth guard is like Antonio Mafi.
63:09So, you know, it's a deep offensive line since they added, you know, that help in free agency and then still just
63:16kept churning in the draft with day two and day three picks.
63:19They're a little bit insulated from injury now. They used to not be at all at all.
63:25Yeah. Paper thin. And I do think Denison is going to go through the process of finding his guys.
63:31And I don't mean his five. I mean, his guys, because you need about seven.
63:36You need about seven guys that you are just like, nope, we can rotate them.
63:40And I've got my swing inside. I got my swing outside.
63:44Those are my seven because you're going to end up playing them in the NFL.
63:49I think the Packers had 11 different combinations last year.
63:52Correct. You're you're going to go through. Yeah. You need a minimum seven, probably nine.
63:57You know, again, if you're getting up towards league averages, it's closer to nine.
64:01So when I say your guys, I don't mean just your best starting five.
64:05I mean, the guys that you can count on when those guys get dinged up and they have to come out for a play or series.
64:14And so he's in the you know, he's been in that mode all throughout the spring.
64:19OTAs training camp now through the preseason. He's evaluating combinations, moving guys around.
64:23None of these guys are really set yet. And he's figuring out who can I have where, you know, is this guy
64:30an inside outside swing player, which is incredibly valuable.
64:33You know, Zune's got the experience and the body type to be able to do that.
64:38Is he that guy that can handle it in the pros or you can play a little bit of guard and a
64:45little bit of tackle in a pinch? Those guys are crazy valuable.
64:49So Denison's figuring it out. And I have much higher confidence.
64:52Let's just say that a Denison figuring out than the previous offensive line coach.
64:57Now we get into the fourth round day three of the draft pick one on one just outside the top hundred.
65:03Everybody was wondering where he was going to go.
65:06Jamal McCoy, the cornerback from Tennessee. I will say this.
65:09If Jamal McCoy had been healthy, he would have been off the board day one early, early, early day two at the latest.
65:17But he was not healthy, so he lasted until the fourth round.
65:20When he was healthy, his Tava Tennessee was stunning.
65:23It was bright light stuff. So if he stays healthy for the Raiders, this is going to be a value.
65:30I mean, you could argue healthy Jamal McCoy was one of the ten best players in the class.
65:35Him and Mansoor Delane would have, it would have been a real discussion for CB1.
65:40Absolutely. And part of the reason why the Chiefs traded up for Mansoor Delane, we'll get to them later in the week.
65:47But part of the reason is because the top of the corner class was thinner than people thought.
65:53Part of that was because McCoy was injured. They would not have done that trade if they thought they could get either or.
66:00I think they traded up from ten. So, you know, that was how he was thought of.
66:05And it really is unfortunate. I hope it's okay.
66:08Or rather, I hope that he can be healthy or at least just have a decent salvaged career now.
66:14I mean, shit, Teddy Bridgewater played for ten years after his leg damn near got amputated.
66:19So hopefully through modern medical science that's bringing guys back from like ruptured patellas in six months, you know, hopefully we can
66:26see that version of Javad McCoy again. Because, man, he was brilliant in 2024 at Tennessee.
66:31Lights out player. Great length. Prototypical size. Overall. Tremendous speed.
66:35Very fluid corner. Great down the boundary. Tremendous. Like, lights out down the boundary.
66:39Again, if we see a reasonably healthy version of him, he gives the Raiders incredible depth.
66:44And, you know, future potential starting caliber player at the outside corner.
66:48Incredibly valuable. And again, they spent a fourth round pick.
66:51That's just where they felt comfortable with the risk meeting the reward.
66:55And, you know, the second pick in the fourth round I think has gotten maybe the most press of anyone in all of Raiders training camp.
67:03Not only through his play, but also through a very high profile ankle turn by one Ashton Jente.
67:09This is 122 Mike Washington Jr., the big, fast running back out of Arkansas.
67:13And I think a lot of people thought he was just that.
67:17That he was a height, weight, speed guy. That he was just a linear guy.
67:22Because, again, you see a guy north of 220 pounds that's running 4-4.
67:26And you go, huh. Yeah, he can't be that gifted as a running back.
67:30Like, his feet can't be that good. He'd be the first overall running back.
67:35I'm not saying he should have been the first overall running back or even the second.
67:40But he should have been drafted higher than the fourth round based on the flashes.
67:45Raiders, again, take the plunge at 122. I think they're already incredibly happy that they did.
67:50And Mike Washington was never a guy that I felt like was really close to his ceiling.
67:55In fact, I thought he was a lot closer to his floor.
67:59So, again, he's in at a pro offense and he gets unlocked.
68:03We've already started to see some of that through the preseason.
68:06He could flash early and become a real offensive force for this football team as a fourth round pick.
68:12I hate to say it. I think part of the reason why he slipped is because of his age.
68:18He's a 23-year-old rookie running back. I mean, Stooks also.
68:22Like, I think Stooks could have been a day one pick if he wasn't 24 and a half.
68:27Yeah, injuries and age with Stooks for sure. He would have been.
68:31There were, even so, there were still people saying he's one of those guys that might slip into the five or six final picks of the first round.
68:40And from a talent standpoint, if you were comfortable with the age and the injury, I wouldn't have looked twice at it.
68:47But it's just one of those things where, you know, people look at, okay, if you're already old, quote-unquote old, as a
68:54rookie, then we're not going to be able to get a third contract out of you.
68:59And I'm like, I'm not thinking that far ahead.
69:02Like, I don't care. I'm thinking three-year stints here.
69:05So, in three years, he's going to be 26.
69:08A 26-year-old running back is still fine. I am not planning for third contracts with NFL players at this point.
69:14Very few exceptions. Sure, I'll plan around Fernando Mendoza's third contract.
69:17Because if we're giving him a third contract, that means he's awesome.
69:21Nobody else to me gets that consideration. But I think the other thing is, okay, if you have an older player, or
69:28rather he's coming out as an older prospect, how much of his success in college is because he was an older player.
69:35Yeah. Playing against presumably younger guys who could be like 18, 19 years old.
69:40I'll say this. It's no longer like that. Everybody has older players in college.
69:44People criticized Indiana because they had a bunch of 24-year-olds on their team.
69:48Well, you know who was older than Indiana? Miami.
69:51So, it was a bunch of NFL-aged players playing against each other in the daddy.
69:56Because if you go back to the extra COVID year that everybody got, not to mention people are staying in college longer because of NIL.
70:04You have fifth, sixth, sometimes seventh-year players in college football now.
70:07Everybody's old. There's a lot of 18 and 19-year-olds that if they want to get snaps, they're playing for a MAC team.
70:14You put up good tape in the MAC. By the time you're 20, you'll get the quote-unquote call-up to the Big Ten or the ACC or whatever.
70:23But as far as those programs, especially the ones like Stukes came out of in Arizona or Arkansas, it's a lot of older players now.
70:31So, I don't really hold that against people. Like, I think you could have pre-NIL these days.
70:36It's really not a big deal. Yeah. Mike Washington showing all the characteristics that made him a darling among draft Knicks and also more.
70:44Again, I think he's shown better feet already. The vision was there on some of the runs if you really dug in.
70:51It wasn't utilized that much in the passing game.
70:53I think there's potential there as well. It's, again, not a he can't do it from an athletic standpoint that they didn't
71:00do it a lot with him in college because they didn't quite frankly need to.
71:05But overall, I want to stop us here for just a second and draw like a dotted line under the fourth round.
71:12So, we've been through the first six picks of this draft.
71:16Mendoza, Stukes, Crawford, Zune, McCoy, Washington Jr. Again, draft is a funny thing.
71:20If you look up at this point in the draft, the Raiders, and you go, I don't know, man.
71:26That's a really strong class. Like, I cannot disagree with any of those players in terms of value or need.
71:32Again, the Raiders had a lot of needs. But you're hitting it in terms of using what was available on the board
71:39to you at the time, not overpaying, overreaching. You're using these many picks you have to restock the draft.
71:45And I honestly, at this point, I think you're six for six.
71:49That's really, really rare for a draft class. Now, they still have four more picks.
71:54And I think minimum two of those, possibly three of those, are also really good picks and really good value.
72:00So, if you're talking about six for six and then you hit two or three of your next four on top of
72:07that, again, some entire draft classes in the NFL is six total picks.
72:11Some teams, a couple teams had five, right? This is a deep draft class.
72:16It is a quality draft class, both from quality of player and also quality of value, which are two different things.
72:22So, as we move into the fifth round, this was the first one I was kind of like, eh, I don't really care.
72:30Pick 150. It's Dalton Johnson, the safety who is...
72:32You weren't a Dalton Johnson guy? I was an okay Dalton Johnson guy in the fifth round.
72:38Like, fine. Like, when I say, eh, I don't mean I didn't like it or I flipped my nose up at it.
72:45I mean, okay, fine. But not particularly a Dalton Johnson guy, no.
72:49There were some people that liked him better than Genesis Smith because Genesis Smith had the tackling issues and everything like that.
72:56And, okay, here's this 190-pound, you know, lightning bolt of a nickel safety high.
73:00Honestly, kind of like Stooks. Just younger. But, you know, you have three guys all in the Arizona secondary.
73:06They're going to be playing in the NFL this year.
73:09Yep. And everybody thought that Stooks was the best one, but there were a lot of people who thought Dalton Johnson was the second best over Genesis Smith.
73:18And I definitely know he's going to make the roster this year.
73:22The question is, how many injuries away is he from getting significant playing time?
73:26It might only be one. It could be. It depends on who he's backing up and, again, how that rotation that we
73:33talked about earlier in terms of what they want to do the most on defense.
73:38Is it more three safety look? Is it more three corner with a true smaller nickel?
73:43Do we want to run, you know, a four safety or a one safety four corner look?
73:49Because they have the guys to do that now as well.
73:52So there's a lot of flexibility here. And it really comes down to just kind of a numbers game in terms of
73:59who he's going in for and how much that player's role was in each of these different variations of the defense that they choose to run.
74:07So we'll see that play out throughout the season as they start to have some tendencies.
74:12We start to get some data month over month.
74:15But the other pick in the fifth round, 175, 25 picks later, Hezekiah Mass is the corner from Cal.
74:21Love this pick. And he is not an overage prospect.
74:24He was not even 22 years old. 21.8 years old when he was drafted.
74:29Big, tall, physical corner in the mold of Noel Williams, who plays for the aforementioned Kansas City Chiefs.
74:35Very, very effective in the same role, in the same defense, no drop off.
74:39And that's kind of crazy considering that the Williams was a drafted NFL player.
74:43Hezekiah Mass is just kind of stepped right in and carried on.
74:47And I think that's a tremendous value to get at 175, especially in this draft that a lot of people were saying, oh, really?
74:55You know, there's this huge talent drop off by day three.
74:58You're not going to be getting any players that are going to be, you know, starting caliber offense or defensive players.
75:05You're going to be getting special teamers. You're going to be getting returners.
75:09You're going to be getting, you know, gadget guys that you use as, you know, boundary X receivers, but they can't do anything else.
75:17Like Hezekiah Massis is a good, solid, great framed, experienced corner from college who had really good stats on top of it.
75:24And you get him at 175. Like, let's go.
75:27As far as lanky corners that actually have good feet and hips, which is not a common combination.
75:32Like, I don't know why he fell to the fifth round.
75:36Me neither. I thought he could have gone as early as the third.
75:40Yeah, late third. Late third, early fourth was where I really opened up the window for him.
75:45And if he was there by mid fourth or, you know, late fourth or even at this point, mid fifth, I'm asking the same question you are.
75:54Like, why? Because the frame is better. The production is better.
75:57The tape is better. Like, and again, not super old.
76:01I'd never heard anything about him off the field.
76:03Doesn't mean there wasn't anything. Didn't hear about injury issues.
76:07And so, yeah, you're middle of day three going, what the hell is hell?
76:11Has a guy Massis still doing on the board?
76:14Anyways, the beneficiaries are the Raiders. And I think he's going to fit right in.
76:19He's got a frame that's very similar to Darian Porter.
76:22He's not as fast as Darian Porter in a straight line.
76:25But more technically refined than Porter was coming out.
76:28And tough. Like, tough, tough, tough. Not that Darian Porter wasn't tough.
76:32Darian Porter, even though he was tall and somewhat spindly, big speed and would hit.
76:37But it wasn't necessary. That wasn't his game. Hezekiah Massis is the guy that's going to be in your face all game.
76:44And I don't care where you are on the field.
76:47He's that kind of guy. I usually see that at what we call smaller feisty corners.
76:52He's not small. But he plays in that same sort of dog style.
76:56And I really, really appreciate his game. Big value at 175.
77:00And the next pick, you know, 20 picks later in the sixth round at 195.
77:04Malik Benson, the wide receiver out of Oregon. Caught my eye at the pro day.
77:09And I thought, you know, here's another one. Slightly undersized, really fast, but not just a one-trick pony.
77:15He did a lot of things for them. I think size is really what pushed him down the board.
77:21And the fact that there were just a lot of other options in that offense.
77:26But already in the preseason, we've seen it. He's earning a bigger role.
77:30He's earning quarterback's trust. Whether it's the first quarterback, second quarterback, third quarterback.
77:34They're all throwing to him. They're getting good results.
77:37Those guys end up on rosters. And, you know, he is going to be down the board as a frontline receiver.
77:43He's got special teams value, which is going to help.
77:46He doesn't have the greatest size. So if he's not really in their return rotation, that's not going to count for him.
77:53But I have trouble sort of looking at the production, even though it is camp and preseason production and not saying there's something there, right?
78:01There's something there worth keeping. Maybe he's a practice squad guy.
78:05I don't think he's a guy that's quite sort of stepped over that line as like, you can't put him on the practice squad.
78:13He will get poached. I think he could get poached.
78:16But I think that need gets kind of overstated every year.
78:19We also, oh, there's going to be like, you know, 50 guys claimed.
78:23You can't leave that guy, right? 50 guys get that tag.
78:27How many actually get claimed every year? It's like 12, 15.
78:30Yeah, it's not that many. So he could slip over that line.
78:34But again, oh, you know, underdrafted overproducing kind of already.
78:37That's a very good value proposition. Brings us to ceiling and floor.
78:41Wrap up our show today. I don't think this team will be nearly as bad as they were last year.
78:47It's almost impossible. Yeah. Right. With all the talent they brought in, all the money they spent crushing the draft.
78:54I do think that Clint Kubiak's a good coach.
78:57And obviously, a lot of the assistants that we talked about.
79:00Yes, there's a network that he was drawing on, which probably led to a lot of those people getting hired.
79:06But individually, they're all really good coaches as well.
79:09It's not taking away from what they are as coaches.
79:12It's more just like, yeah, man, it's a big club.
79:16We're not in it, but they are. And they're also really good at their job.
79:20I think two things can be true at once.
79:23So good draft, good free agency, good coaching staff, experienced coaching staff.
79:27I can't imagine this team is winning three games again.
79:30No. So because of that, my floor is five.
79:33I think at worst, it's a five win team.
79:36And I think they could get up to eight.
79:39Some of that depends on when does Mendoza start.
79:42And how does it go? And how does it go?
79:45Yeah. Yes. Maybe there's a universe where they're like a surprise wildcard team and they even exceed eight.
79:51But I'm not going to predict that. Yeah. You know, it'd be a nice surprise for me.
79:56Conservatively, based on what we know now and who's starting right now, I'll say eight.
80:01There'll be a solid middle of the road team.
80:04There'll be watchable. Raiders fans will enjoy their Sundays.
80:06They're not going into it expecting an average of losing by 12.
80:10They'll be competitive. And then 2027. It's go time.
80:13Like, that's the year where it's like, all right, we spent all this money.
80:17We drafted the guy. Like, let's let's get going here.
80:21Yeah, I fully agree. My ceiling and floor are very close.
80:24Again, I classify mine as the ceiling is why I could all work and the floor is why I could all fall apart.
80:31My ceiling is seven, just one under yours. And my floor is four, one under yours as well.
80:37And why I could all work to hit that seven games.
80:41And again, would it surprise me that they were in an eighth game and maybe won it?
80:46No, not at all. I think they're going to be in a lot more games because again, I think they are going
80:53to be a basic, competent, professional NFL franchise. And I cannot say that about the 2025 Raiders.
80:58So why I could all work offensive line and run game.
81:02We talked about the depth in the offensive line.
81:05And again, the coaching, they're not going to be as bad.
81:08If Rick Denison's line allows less yards before contact than last year's team, I'll have to come up with some kind of fantasy punishment for myself.
81:17I really don't think that's possible. But again, the OL and run game returned to a basic professional level.
81:23Mendoza gets reps early. You can take that as you wish.
81:26Takes his lumps because all rookies do. Settles in by mid-season or late mid-season, two-thirds of the way through.
81:32Reels off a couple of wins at the end.
81:35Again, we talked about this winnable game as the game starts to slow down for him and he gets more used to his receivers.
81:43Defense as a whole bucks up against the pass.
81:45Maybe five spots. I'm not talking about a huge improvement.
81:49That would be from 23rd to say 19th or 18th.
81:52That would be fine. Is continues a strong play against the run.
81:56Doesn't have to be six. Could be 10th. That's fine.
81:59And just doesn't give up points in bunches. Could be a solid team that gives certain teams that it matches up with.
82:06Well fits. And that in the NFL is a seven or eight win team.
82:10Totally. I think it's an easy path to see that level of improvement with all the changes they've made that we've talked about.
82:17How could all fall apart? They mismanaged QB. It's a roller coaster all season in, out.
82:22You know, they bring cousins in or he gets hurt and they go to Mendoza.
82:27He gets dinged up. They end up playing, you know, a third starter.
82:31And then it's who do we bring back? Kirk was playing okay.
82:35Like that's the wishy-washiness of young quarterback development that I think is even more detrimental than throwing a guy out there and getting him shelled.
82:43But that's why I'm over here and there on the NFL sideline.
82:47Defense can't generate consistent pass rush. And as a result, gives up long drives that end up in points for the opposition.
82:54Familiar story to last year. I still don't think they're going to be as bad.
82:59Even if everything, all that stuff went wrong for them.
83:02So they're winning four games minimum just with talent and talent on both the coaching side and the player side.
83:08So overall, better team than last year, which I think is music to Raiders fans ears.
83:13We'll see exactly how much better they are as the season goes on.
83:17This will be one of the teams that we are tracking very closely throughout the season.
83:22So again, Raiders fans, make sure to keep watching during the season because we'll be talking about you a lot more this
83:29year compared to last year, at least positively. I'll say that much tomorrow.
83:34If you're a Raiders fan and a masochist, we're talking chiefs.
83:37So make sure to come back for that as well.
83:40And then after that, we got the chargers. Then we got the Broncos to round off the week.
83:46And then of course on Patreon on Fridays, we do our AFC West division recap as well.
83:51Picking rookies of the year, players of the year, coach of the year, division winner, MVP, bold predictions, all that kind of stuff.
83:59So again, check out the infographics, check out the division recaps, and we will see you tomorrow.
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