0:00Let's start with Jack Besh there. Yeah,
0:02for the Raiders. Solid profile,
0:05especially in the intermediate and short
0:07areas. Digs 80% success rate, curls and
0:10comebacks both north of 85%
0:13slant at an 80% success rate as well. I
0:17mean, let me just say man, the hip sink,
0:19it is real with this guy. We saw that in
0:22college. I think we saw that to a degree
0:24in the pros here as well. Short and
0:26intermediate Jack Besh, really really
0:28good player.
0:30>> Look at the release.
0:31>> There's your separation.
0:32>> Great route. Stutter and go, gets by
0:33clean.
0:34>> That is unbelievable.
0:35>> Maybe the greatest catch I've ever seen.
0:41>> Right. And the other two guys that you
0:44mentioned we're going to talk about
0:45here,
0:46Jaylen Nailor and Travis Hunter. Like I
0:48can explain, obviously for very
0:50different reasons, why those guys, you
0:52know, weren't getting consistent snaps
0:55to the level that you might like.
0:57You know, for Christian Kirk, obviously
0:59blocking Jaylen Nailor, that was a big
1:00part of it. For Travis Hunter, he's
1:01playing cornerback in addition to wide
1:03receiver in his rookie year. We know
1:05what's going on there. Besh is the one
1:06of the trio here that it's like, okay, I
1:08don't get it. Like I this was so
1:10confusing to me. It's like why he was
1:12just like not getting opportunities last
1:14year. We talked about it a lot,
1:15especially like in relation to the fact
1:18that I really liked him as a prospect.
1:20Now, he wasn't a perfect prospect. He
1:21was a a skewed alignment receiver, only
1:23took snaps at the right wide receiver
1:25position at TCU. He's obviously coming
1:27from that stripped down offense. So, not
1:29a guy that you can really really go all
1:30in on a guarantee, like lock it in this
1:32guy's going to be a great NFL player.
1:33There's obviously some red flags in his
1:34profile, some other things that we'll
1:36talk about that did translate from a
1:38negative standpoint NFL level. But, he
1:41was a prospect I really liked. It was
1:42the Raiders offense that looks like,
1:43okay, there's some opportunity here. Oh,
1:45yeah. And then you chart out the rookie
1:47report data, like mid-season rookie
1:49report was on the site. Yeah, this guy
1:50like I'm watching him play, like he
1:52looks like he belongs on the field. Why
1:54is he not playing? Like what is going on
1:57here? And
2:00digging into it after the fact, I think
2:03I I think I know why. Uh particular
2:05members of the coaching staff just
2:07straight up didn't want this guy.
2:08Just straight up didn't want Just
2:09straight up did not want this guy as a
2:12draft pick. And I think that we've you
2:15could see that happening in real time,
2:17you know, based on just how fli- And and
2:20look, I again, I talked about it a lot
2:21what they did to the other rookie
2:22receiver, Dontay Thornton,
2:25out of Tennessee, was just was just
2:27bonkers. Um this is a coaching staff
2:29that did not have a cohesive vision as a
2:32group and was not really
2:35it just wasn't a it wasn't a
2:36well-coached team last year. You think
2:38like, "Oh, Pete Carroll's coming in
2:39here. This is going to be a clean
2:40operation." It wasn't. They were very
2:41behind the eight ball. They did Again,
2:43they did not have a cohesive vision, and
2:45it felt like a team that was coached by
2:47a bunch of guys who both weren't on the
2:49same page. Some guys weren't, you know,
2:51ready to be in the jobs that they had.
2:54And, you know, the other part of it
2:55here, too, is that um they just they
2:59were behind. Like I said, I mean, Pete
3:00Carroll it's like a the guy had been
3:02away from football, you know, for a
3:03year, and he came back and clearly
3:05didn't look like he was fully,
3:07you know, kind of had the finger on the
3:08pulse, especially on the offensive side
3:10of the football. What they did to Dontay
3:12Thornton, like they just like, "Oh, big,
3:13fast guy, like he's going to be a day
3:16one starter for us." There was no no
3:18shot that guy was ready to play early in
3:20the NFL, and, you know, we saw the
3:21results of it. It was just No, it was
3:23not good for Thornton. I feel almost
3:25like I said, feel a little bit bad for
3:26him that he was just pushed into the
3:28into the pool there. And then for Besh,
3:31how this relates back to him, like I
3:33said, barely plays, but when he does
3:35play, you see some real uh ability. You
3:37mentioned the success rates on the short
3:39and uh underneath routes. 51st
3:41percentile success rate versus man, 63rd
3:43against zone, 64th against press. Like
3:46he did show an ability to get open, and
3:48this is all while, in my opinion,
3:50playing out of position. Talk about the
3:53player comparison tool which we just
3:55debuted today. We were just talking
3:56about it. You type in his comparable
3:58seasons. These are the top three guys
4:01that he compares to.
4:03Um it's all X receivers. It's like
4:05Rashod Bateman's rookie year X receiver.
4:08Cedric Tillman's 2024 season X receiver.
4:11Kenny Golladay in 2018
4:14X receiver. Like why why is he in this
4:17bucket as an X receiver? And that's
4:18exactly what happened here. 76% snaps on
4:22the line of scrimmage. He was in the
4:23slot on just 28% of his sample snaps.
4:26Like for the most part, not exclusively,
4:27but for the most part, this guy was an
4:29outside X. And again,
4:32I like Besh as a prospect. I did not
4:35think he was going to be an X receiver
4:37in the NFL.
4:39>> No.
4:39>> Because he does not set He's a good
4:42separator. We just talked about this. He
4:44doesn't have the straight-line speed.
4:45You go back and look at his prospect
4:47profile, James. Like a ton of green on
4:49the route chart, right? The one glaring
4:51bad negative was well, he he can't run
4:54vertical. He he his his nine route
4:56success rate uh his corner route success
4:58rate really low. Guess what are his two
5:00worst routes
5:02on his NFL route tree. 36% nine route
5:05success rate and 33% corner route
5:07success rate. You can't do You can't
5:09hang at X receiver if you can't, you
5:11know, um
5:13separate vertically like that. So, it
5:15just it it was just a guy that was
5:17playing out of position. Was kind of
5:18treated with this like flippant nature
5:20like, oh, throw him out there big
5:21receiver as the X. I can hear an
5:23argument and we'll we can unpack this
5:25that, oh, you know, well, Brock Bowers
5:28and it's a 12 personnel offense, right?
5:30Like somebody has to be the outside
5:32on-ball player.
5:34Well, what
5:35You can You can find ways to maximize
5:38like a big slot movement Z type that
5:41what is what I think Besh should be.
5:43>> Yeah.
5:44>> And a move tight end. Good coaching
5:46staffs do it all the time.
5:48>> All the time.
5:49>> All the time. Look at what like the
5:50Lions have done with Sam LaPorta and and
5:53Amon-Ra St. Brown. Like good coaching
5:55staffs find a way to figure it out. This
5:57is like again it's there's a way to get
5:59Besh on the field and Bowers on the
6:02field doing all the cool move around
6:03stuff.
6:04Obviously what happened last year was
6:06not the right way to do it.
6:07>> Route participation-wise, 15.5 15.4%
6:12route participation on the nine route.
6:14That's a heavy usage of the nines. I
6:17mean
6:17>> Crazy.
6:18>> Anything over 10% is pretty heavy in the
6:20NFL. Maybe not so much in college, but
6:23at the NFL level anything over 10%
6:25that's pretty heavy usage, you know? And
6:27for him to be at 15% route participation
6:30there
6:31that's
6:32that's insane
6:34when you then also watch him and say
6:36yeah, well he's struggling to separate
6:38down the field. Like why keep running
6:41him against the wall like this? I'm
6:43convinced
6:44um
6:45I mean I don't have all the numbers in
6:46front of me here, but I'm convinced like
6:48if you were to just reduce that by half
6:51um a lot of his overall overarching
6:54success rates would then rise, right?
6:57Like his man like his success rate
6:59versus man right now is 68.7%.
7:02Like that's fine
7:03>> Perfectly solid, yeah.
7:05>> Perfectly but again, we want that to be
7:07a little bit higher, right? Like we want
7:08that to be covered that 70% threshold.
7:10He's knocking on the door, he's fine.
7:12But again, um an 80% again zone that's
7:15really really good. But like I said, 15%
7:18route participation on the nine, shoot,
7:21you know for sure his zone percentage is
7:23going up meaning his success rate's
7:25going up. And I think that his man
7:28success rate would also go up, too. So I
7:30think that we're just scratching the
7:31surface here of a really good player in
7:34Jack Besh.
7:35>> Yeah, exactly. Like I think that you're
7:37right to say that that the overall
7:39numbers are still good and this is
7:41without like the role catering that I
7:44think the player needs. Like I obviously
7:45I was I really was really high on Jake
7:47Bob as a prospect. Um but you know,
7:49there have been guys like I like him as
7:50a prospect and
7:52oh boy, like year one products like
7:54wasn't good at all, you know, and and
7:55there's there's that's definitely
7:56happened before. I just don't think Besh
7:58really was like that in a small sample
8:00size. So, I I think that there's just a
8:03way to get this guy activated. It's does
8:05not have to be I like as a pure power
8:08slot either.
8:09Um as a matter of fact, like
8:12I think a good way to get him activated
8:14from, you know, a route and kind of like
8:17snaps and and kind of pre-snap
8:18deployment perspective would be a lot of
8:21what the Seahawks did last year with
8:22Cooper Kupp. You know, obviously Cooper
8:24Kupp was one of the best big slot power
8:26slot players in the NFL at his peak.
8:28He's not that guy anymore. Um his final
8:31year in LA showed a pretty precipitous
8:32drop-off in terms of his ability to get
8:35open, especially down the football
8:37field, but he was still a very useful
8:39player for the Seahawks last year in in
8:42a low volume production role because of
8:45his blocking ability and his ability to
8:46win quickly.
8:48Um like you go and look at some of these
8:50these games when Cooper Kupp was just
8:51like moving the chains, you know, on
8:53third down and stuff like that. That's
8:54the guy I would imagine Besh can be.
8:57Like is that going to get you Is that
8:58going to light your fire from like a
9:00production standpoint or fantasy? I
9:02don't I don't know about that, but I do
9:04think like a guy with the separation
9:06ability quickly and to get open and you
9:09mentioned the hip sink on these
9:10in-breaking routes and quick stop
9:13routes. That is what a guy like Fernando
9:15Mendoza needs in his rookie year. That
9:16is what this offense is going to need as
9:18well because they have some guys who can
9:20kind of
9:22lift the lid, right? Like Trey Tucker is
9:25a guy who can get down the football
9:26field. Maybe even Thornton can still
9:28contribute as a vertical player, but he
9:30just need he badly needed development
9:32and what happened to him last year was a
9:33shame. Even Jaylen Nailer who they
9:35signed is kind of like a guy that can
9:37move around and play all three receiver
9:39positions and and can get down the
9:40football field a little bit, but they do
9:42need like a reliable possession target.
9:44That's what I imagine Besh can be early
9:47on in his career. And obviously, if they
9:49continue to grow and develop his game,
9:51there's a lot more to it. And I do think
9:52like and maybe I'm just telling myself a
9:54story on this.
9:56You know, so feel free to tell me like
9:57again, maybe I'm just completely wrong
9:59on everything and like Besh is just
10:01never going to be a good NFL player.
10:02That's I'm totally willing to
10:03acknowledge that that it might be
10:04possible. But I think that you look at
10:06this Raiders team that didn't do
10:08anything in the draft like serious at
10:09the wide receiver position.
10:12And people are killing them for it. And
10:13I'm I'm not going to sit here and say
10:14that they're not one of the weakest
10:15rooms on paper, you know, in the NFL. It
10:18is one of the weakest rooms on paper in
10:19the NFL. But if they're going to funnel
10:21most of this thing through Brock Bowers,
10:23which is obviously what they should do.
10:25You're telling me like, oh, you spend a
10:28fourth round pick or so third round pick
10:29or so. How about just get the guy that
10:31you drafted this front office drafted
10:33last year in the second round. Get him
10:35the right role and get him going here. I
10:37think that's much more useful than like,
10:40oh, spend a third round pick on Elijah
10:42Sorrell who I like, you know, right? I
10:44like Elijah Sorrell as like a power slot
10:46conversion player. I I like that idea,
10:48but that's more of kind of the same
10:50thing of what you already have
10:51in Jack Besh, right? Just like, oh,
10:54well, he played with Fernando Mendoza.
10:55Well, again, that's cool. It's fine. It
10:57would have been an awesome story to see
10:58those two guys back together again. They
10:59have great chemistry on the back
11:00shoulder stuff. But at the same time, I
11:02would just rather get like something out
11:04of Jack Besh. I kind of think this is
11:05the coaching staff to do it.
11:07>> Yeah, I agree. Hey, listen,
11:09and
11:10while I don't like their wide receiver
11:11room overall, I think that they
11:14prioritize quickness over speed. Right?
11:17Like getting Jalen Nailer, he's a
11:18quicker player, not a speed player,
11:20right? Like where I'm talking about a
11:21guy who
11:22a lot a lot of these guys really can't
11:24get down the field. Maybe Trey Tucker
11:26can. Maybe Trey Tucker can, but
11:29>> Trey Tucker can burn. He He can
11:31definitely rip it down field. So, we'll
11:33see. Uh but Trey Tucker, Jaylen Nailor,
11:35Jack Besh, those are your three wide
11:36receivers. I would imagine I'm hoping
11:38that we see a lot of Trey Tucker, Jack
11:39Besh one-two combinations. That would be
11:42That'd be nice. I think they're a little
11:43bit interchangeable.
11:44Um you know, and and they could get
11:46after it for the Raiders. But, you
11:48combine that with Ashion Gentie. Oh, by
11:50the way, oh by the way, we've got a
11:52player profile up right now on Mike
11:53Washington.
11:54Mike Washington hit the site right now.
11:57Um so, that's an interesting one.
11:59>> Dynasty rookie draft just like needed
12:00Mike Washington to go somewhere else.
12:02Like I mean, it's cool that he's there
12:03with the Raiders and stuff. Like they a
12:05little pop in the backfield, a little
12:06depth behind Ashion Gentie. But, like
12:08damn, dude, we really needed him to go
12:09to like a spot that he could climb the
12:11depth chart. That was tough. But, um
12:13yeah, I I think it's an interesting like
12:15collection of players for Clint Kubiak's
12:17first year on the job. And you know, I
12:19definitely think that um when you look
12:21at
12:22Michael Mayer, right? Like he's once
12:24again kind of getting the hype cycle in
12:26the off season. Like, oh, they're going
12:27to run a bunch of 12 personnel. They did
12:28run a bunch of 12 personnel last year.
12:30And I think Mayer can be a good inline
12:32player so that you can move Brock Bowers
12:35around, right? Probably the exception
12:38when you're moving these guys around.
12:39Like, are you, you know, kind of losing
12:41sort of the receiving ability cuz it's
12:43not a wide receiver. I think
12:45Bowers is a uh is an exception to that.
12:47Obviously, he can be activated from
12:49multiple different different positions.
12:51But, yeah, there are ways where
12:54um if if you're moving, you know, Bowers
12:57around, he's your true slot player, you
12:59can also still then kind of have Besh as
13:02the F player there and like be more of a
13:04blocker in two receiver sets and even in
13:06three receiver sets. And you can do
13:08stuff where like Trey Tucker's your
13:10vertical player in like a three-by-one
13:12set, and you have Besh and Jaylen Nailor
13:16as kind of the guys there along with
13:18Brock Bowers in the three spot. Like
13:20there's just there's a lot of
13:22flexibility there, and I think that's
13:24what this offense wants to do. Like they
13:25do want to run a lot of stuff through
13:28the tight end, but you also do need
13:29receivers to be active as well. And I
13:31just am not willing to throw in the
13:33towel quite yet on Basha. If it doesn't
13:35happen in year two, okay, then you know,
13:37I was probably wrong on him as a
13:38prospect, but I just based on knowing
13:41what I know about what how this thing
13:42went down in Las Vegas last year and
13:46watching him in isolation, like I
13:47definitely think there is still
13:49something, you know, to this guy. And I
13:51And I think that the ability to separate
13:53in the short and intermediate area is
13:55really, really valuable for this player.
13:59Uh and like I said, good offensive
14:01coaches
14:02are able to activate the move tight end
14:05and the power slot player, you know, the
14:07F player, the Z movement guy, that sort
14:10of hybrid role. It's absolutely
14:12possible. It is totally able to happen
14:15from a a scheme and, you know, pre-snap
14:17alignment perspective. I think Kubiak is
14:20much more along the lines to get it done
14:22than what we saw last year.
14:24>> Yeah, for sure. Um and we'll see how
14:26much Kirk Cousins plays, too, by the
14:27way, early. I don't I don't I imagine
14:29he'll play early. Uh maybe we'll see how
14:30Kirk Cousins does it.
