Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast Luke Getsy, Antonio Pierce, Moving Up for a QB in the NFL Draft, Maxx Crosby
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fann Nation Las Vegas
00:07 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:09 It's great to be with you this morning.
00:11 It's early, it's about two in the morning, and I appreciate you all being with us again
00:17 for another update.
00:18 Got a lot of things to talk to you about today.
00:21 The Getzey announcement was finally made final.
00:23 We're going to talk a little bit more about Luke.
00:26 Not a lot more, but a little bit more.
00:30 We're going to get into that a little bit.
00:33 We're going to get into a lot on the quarterback position with the Raiders.
00:38 What do I think it looks like?
00:39 Who do I think is in play?
00:40 Who is not in play?
00:42 What about trading up?
00:43 We're going to get into that.
00:45 And also I got to spend some time with Max Crosby yesterday at Sunrise Mountain High
00:53 School here in Las Vegas.
00:55 Had a great conversation with him, both in a scrum, a press conference, and then privately.
01:02 We're going to get into that a lot.
01:04 And then a couple of other things.
01:05 So I'm looking forward to this podcast.
01:07 I hope that you are too.
01:08 Thank you for tuning in.
01:09 I'm just going to tell you, we have grown exponentially.
01:15 Literally tens of thousands of you are watching these.
01:17 I think people love getting their Raider content every single day.
01:22 Years ago, Paul Bear Bryant, when he was the head coach at Alabama, went to the local newspapers
01:28 and said, "There will be a story about Alabama football in the newspaper every day.
01:33 It's that big of a deal."
01:34 I've had a lot of people ask me about doing a podcast every day.
01:41 Is it going to quit?
01:42 No.
01:43 This is one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports, in all of it.
01:51 No, there should be a broadcast every single day on this team, and there will be.
02:00 And we're going to get into all different kinds of stuff.
02:02 We have so many amazing guests lined up during the off season.
02:07 I just can't wait to share them all with you.
02:10 And we're going to be bringing some of you on.
02:12 We're going to be bringing some fans on.
02:14 We're going to be bringing on players.
02:16 We're going to be bringing on a lot of things that I think you're going to really enjoy
02:21 and I think are going to be a huge time for you.
02:27 Some of it's going to be great history lessons.
02:30 Some of it's going to be great learning some things.
02:33 We're just really going to dig deep and get in with you on the nuances of the Raiders
02:41 and of course on the game of football.
02:43 Very quickly, if you live in Texas, that's such a big place.
02:49 Let's be more specific in the San Antonio range.
02:54 I'm going to be in San Antonio on Tuesday the 5th.
02:57 Now, if you check my social media, we have the information with the San Antonio Black
03:05 Hole chapter.
03:06 It's completely free.
03:07 It's from 6 to 730.
03:09 We would love to meet you.
03:11 I don't always bring my wife and Dexter to meetups.
03:15 I'm going to be bringing them to San Antonio with me.
03:20 Make sure seating is limited, but it's 100% free.
03:24 You get in there, get your food.
03:26 You pay for your own food and drinks, but it's completely free.
03:30 We'll come in and it's an hour and a half of Raider talk.
03:33 Usually I spend about 45 minutes talking to you about some things that are going on, maybe
03:38 things I haven't reported on, or maybe more details on some things.
03:43 Then we open up the floor and we talk.
03:47 We talk Raiders and I share with you things that I believe or whatever.
03:52 It's a wonderful night of Raiders.
03:53 You get to meet a lot of Raider fans.
03:57 If you're not part of the San Antonio Black Hole chapter, that doesn't matter.
04:00 You're welcome, but get a chance to meet a bunch of Raiders that are there in your state.
04:05 Maybe you can get together with some people and watch games.
04:08 It's a great event.
04:10 I do these all over the country.
04:13 When groups ask me if there's enough people who want it, we will go there and it costs
04:18 nothing.
04:19 If you have a group of Raider fans, I was asked recently, "Would you go to Australia
04:24 or would you go to England?"
04:25 Yes, absolutely.
04:27 Would you go to Mexico?
04:28 Yes.
04:29 If you've got enough people, we'll come there.
04:35 We love to talk Raiders.
04:37 Go check out my social media and make sure that you check that out.
04:41 It'll be a great event.
04:42 I look forward to meeting you.
04:43 You'll get a chance to meet Shannon and Dexter.
04:46 It's just a great time with Raider fans.
04:50 It used to be Shannon would say to me, "I'm going," so I would leave and go to these events.
04:57 As you know, she's all in.
04:58 She's a Raider fan.
04:59 She's raising Dexter.
05:01 He's going to be a Raider fan.
05:03 She's like, "I'm not missing a chance to be in a bunch of Raiders."
05:06 She's going to be there.
05:07 It'll be a lot of fun.
05:08 Please make sure you check it out.
05:11 Also, I promised you another deep dive.
05:14 It's coming.
05:16 When it comes out, you're going to understand.
05:19 I've never had a deep dive before.
05:21 That's more than one article.
05:23 This is actually going to probably be three.
05:28 Could be as many as five.
05:30 I don't want it to be that long.
05:32 I think people get tired of series when they're that long, but it's going to be an extremely
05:38 deep dive.
05:42 I think you're going to really enjoy it as a Raider.
05:45 Some of my deep dives, I know, make people frustrated.
05:49 I don't think there's anything in this one that's going to frustrate anybody.
05:55 You'll understand when it comes out.
05:56 I don't want to say too much.
05:57 I don't want to give it away.
06:00 But I think it's going to be very important for you.
06:03 Additionally, we are putting out massive amounts of draft prospect reports.
06:10 These are guys that we know that the Raiders are interested in.
06:12 There's a couple of them that we've actually invited to come on the podcast.
06:16 They're going to.
06:17 You may remember last year we had on Kaleidjikantse and a couple others.
06:24 We've invited them.
06:25 They've quickly accepted.
06:27 These are guys that we know the Raiders have some interest in and could potentially end
06:32 up Raiders.
06:33 I think you're going to be excited with those coming up.
06:36 That's going to be really good.
06:38 Lots of great stuff coming up.
06:39 I appreciate all of you.
06:42 Tremendously respect all of you.
06:44 Thank you for listening, for reading, and subscribing and sharing.
06:52 Most media is a wall and ours isn't.
06:59 Yesterday, I think we did 14 stories plus videos, plus content, other content, 100%
07:07 free.
07:08 What I encourage you to do is go up, hit the subscribe button.
07:12 That way you never miss anything else.
07:14 The other thing you need to do so you never miss another big Raider story is go to si.com/NFL/Raiders.
07:22 While you're there, of course, you check everything out, but the upper right-hand corner, it says
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07:28 Click on it and you will very quickly sign up for our newsletter.
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07:47 All right, let's dig in.
07:48 I want to start with the Raiders make it official on Luke Getzey.
07:53 I already did the other day a story about his background, what intrigued him.
08:04 Several NFL teams were interested in him.
08:08 I know there was one team that was about to make him an offer and another that I was told
08:13 by someone in the organization was probably going to make him an offer.
08:18 The Raiders, as soon as the Cliff situation ended, went right back to him because he was
08:26 so impressive.
08:27 He had finished a close second to Cliff and they wanted to secure him before somebody
08:32 else got him.
08:34 I got a bunch of emails and you guys know, I try to really listen.
08:41 If one or two people, for example, when we gave away the shoes, we talked about you had
08:47 to include your name, your address, and your shoe size.
08:51 You could only send one email per email address.
08:54 I can't tell you the number of people that were automatically just thrown out because
09:00 two or three emails or people sending me messages on social media.
09:03 Hey, what was your email?
09:05 We delivered it in the podcast, but you have to stay through and listen.
09:11 I really read your emails and comments.
09:15 As long as you're not a flamer.
09:18 Someone asked me yesterday, did you learn a new word?
09:20 Actually, yeah, I did.
09:22 But if people are just being rude or nasty, just mute.
09:26 I don't pay attention to that.
09:28 But a lot of people have really good opinions who disagree with me and that's fine.
09:32 I'm not God.
09:33 I don't have a problem if anybody disagrees.
09:38 People get mean or hateful, you just click or just obnoxious.
09:43 But I got a lot of emails after the Luke Getzey podcast.
09:47 And I thought, when I say a lot, I would guess between 75 and 125.
09:54 So I was going to say 100 from people all pretty much saying close to the same thing.
09:59 Hondo, appreciate that you shared stuff about Cliff and I appreciate you shared stuff about
10:05 Luke, but do you think it looks bad?
10:10 That was the first question.
10:11 And the second one is, is there anything negative that you can point out?
10:17 And I understand that people wondering, am I just being a Kool-Aid person and which is
10:21 not what I do.
10:24 But you know this, I'm going to give coach AP 20 games.
10:29 He gets 20 games.
10:30 So did Josh McDaniels.
10:33 You may remember after 20 games, I was very, very tough in how I graded him.
10:41 And AP deserves to pick the staff he wanted.
10:45 When people said, well, okay, I support AP getting a job, but he has to hire this person.
10:50 No, if you trust somebody enough to have them as your head coach, then you let them pick
11:03 their staff, let them fail or succeed on their own.
11:08 Now AP, I want to address the Getty thing.
11:14 I've said it before, but I'll address it again.
11:16 It's not a good look when your first choice bails.
11:21 That's completely fair.
11:26 That's not a good look.
11:32 I 100% agree with that.
11:35 Now I think there's been some revisionist history from some people about why Cliff didn't
11:42 take the job.
11:44 First of all, it's totally true that the Raiders offered him a two-year deal.
11:50 That's factual, but the Raiders were not cheap.
11:54 The Raiders were being smart.
11:59 He's failed a lot in his career.
12:02 So here's two years to come in and prove you're going to be a team player and you're going
12:07 to have success.
12:08 You're going to be able to take this roster and do something with it.
12:12 You got fired at Texas Tech, didn't win big, and you got fired with the Cardinals, didn't
12:18 win big.
12:19 There were times the team really flashed and times it just looked like, what?
12:25 That's AP and Tom Telesco being wise.
12:30 The Raiders are not broke.
12:31 I've said that so many times.
12:33 Some people just want to believe things that aren't truthful and you can't fix that.
12:37 But that was them being in guarding the franchise.
12:45 There were other issues involved and those were convenient, but Cliff decided not to
12:51 be here.
12:52 And guess what?
12:53 He did the Raiders a favor.
12:54 If he hadn't had a Cliff, if his heart wasn't totally set on being here, God bless him.
13:01 Wish him well.
13:02 Hope he does well.
13:04 But you had Getzey that wanted to be here.
13:06 Again, other teams still had interest, but he wanted to be here.
13:11 The Raiders were very impressed with Getzey.
13:15 And I didn't talk about this the other day, but when they went up there and played that
13:20 team without Justin and you saw the way that offense worked with a new quarterback, not
13:30 a lot of experience, undrafted, and you saw the toughness of that offense and the way
13:41 that it operated, it really impressed the Raiders, even impressed the Raiders at the
13:47 time.
13:50 If I were you, I'd go back and watch my podcast from right after the game.
13:55 I talked about that.
13:59 So that really stuck out to them.
14:05 And there were some things that happened in Chicago.
14:08 Someone said, "Are you saying that absolutely none of it was Getzey's fault?"
14:12 No, not saying that at all.
14:16 But he had a boss and he had to follow what his boss wanted done.
14:23 And that is a huge factor.
14:27 And it was something that the Raiders were able to go and, you know, is this an excuse
14:33 or is this reality?
14:34 And they were able to ascertain, yeah, that's exactly the truth.
14:39 And so they get their guy in Getzey.
14:41 It's officially announced.
14:42 I know a lot of people, because of what happened to the Cliff, were panicking a little bit.
14:46 There was no need to panic, but they got their guy.
14:50 Now, none of us is God.
14:57 Not one of us knows if AP is going to be a great success or a great failure.
15:05 None of us knows if Getzey is going to.
15:07 But we know this, in the NFL draft, about 60% of quarterbacks picked in the first round
15:14 are essentially a fail.
15:17 So when you pick a quarterback in the first round, it is a crapshoot.
15:23 A lot of coaches get hired to get fired in the NFL.
15:25 I mean, Bill Belichick, parting of ways.
15:30 But for those of you that are long-term listeners of this podcast, you knew that was coming.
15:34 I was the first one to talk about the story.
15:39 When I said, "I'm hearing if Bill doesn't get to the playoffs, he's out."
15:43 And I said that, and that's on the record.
15:48 Fox Sports Radio with Rob Parker.
15:53 Rob Parker and I were talking about it yesterday.
15:56 I mean, he said, "You were the first one even to remotely say this nationally."
16:01 And I said, "I was told by people, part of the organization."
16:07 So when you hire, you have to eliminate as much risk as possible.
16:16 We wrote a bunch of articles lately on Tom Telesco.
16:18 I really encourage you to go back and read those articles if you didn't.
16:22 Getting into his philosophy, just what's the Telesco doctrine.
16:29 And he talked about, he doesn't want any surprises on draft night.
16:35 And they'll go back to high school.
16:37 They'll talk to guys, teachers in high schools, janitors in high schools, all of that.
16:42 I'm going to share a funny story with you because I know this to be 100% factual.
16:46 I know of a college that produces a lot of NFL talent.
16:53 And there is a bar in that city that a lot of the football players like to go to.
17:02 And I know an NFL team that has the bar manager and a couple of bouncers that they pay money
17:11 to.
17:12 "Hey, what's this kid like?
17:14 Give me some information if something happens."
17:18 I know about a player on the team that was expected to go very high in the draft who
17:23 plummeted because after a bowl game, went into the bar and made a fool of himself.
17:30 And it really made people nervous.
17:33 I know of teams that have social media accounts that don't have the appearance of the person
17:47 who's running them.
17:50 You can figure out what I'm saying because they want to know what are guys like.
17:54 They go back and do their due diligence.
17:55 You do all of your due diligence.
17:57 It's like Bill Parcells says, and you heard me and John Schott talk about this.
18:00 I think it was last week or it could have been two shows ago, but I think it was last
18:05 week.
18:06 I think it was 2,500 passes.
18:08 He goes, "I want to see a guy who was a three-year starter and threw 2,500 passes in college
18:13 because the more passes I have to watch, the more I have to evaluate."
18:21 I did a show with Jonathan Schopp right after the Bears picked Mitchell Trubisky, a one-year
18:27 guy, didn't have a lot of numbers.
18:31 And I said, "Hey, if that's your guy, you are willing to gamble if you believe it, but
18:35 you're gambling your career."
18:37 But I wouldn't.
18:38 There wasn't enough to judge him by.
18:41 I agree with that.
18:42 Now, the way the game has changed, you're probably not going to find very many guys
18:46 that are three-year starters.
18:47 But the point is, is you want as much information as you can get on any player because the more
18:55 you have, you minimize risk.
18:59 Preparation minimizes risk.
19:00 And in the National Football League, the higher the draft pick, meaning round, you have to
19:07 minimize even more risk.
19:09 Listen, it's a crap shoot if your seventh rounder is going to make it.
19:14 It's questionable if your sixth rounder is going to make it.
19:17 But rounds one through five, those guys you expect to make it.
19:21 And each one, there's a little bit more responsibility.
19:26 So it's the same way with a coach.
19:30 That's why I've always said when you're an iconic brand like the Las Vegas Raiders, you
19:35 don't want to go get a coach with no head coaching experiences in the National Football
19:39 League.
19:40 I just don't think it's smart.
19:43 I'm on the AP train.
19:46 And I think those interim games were a big teacher to him.
19:51 I would not have picked Antonio Pierce to coach his team without the interim.
19:56 But he got the interim to get his feet wet, to learn a little bit about being a head coach.
20:02 I think he did phenomenal.
20:03 Now I'm riding the Antonio Pierce train.
20:07 And I think you minimize risk by bringing in an Antonio Pierce.
20:16 Completely minimize risk.
20:20 Completely minimize it.
20:22 And you want to make that window of failure as small as you can.
20:27 And so with Getze, someone said, so I was asked, do you have anything negative?
20:36 I would give you a couple things.
20:39 First of all, for whatever reason, he wasn't the first choice.
20:44 But I think that works out.
20:47 How many things in your life, Garth Brooks has that song, "Sometimes I thank God for
20:51 unanswered prayers."
20:53 I think there are some times you dodge a bullet.
20:56 Now, I told you that Cliff really wowed them in the interview, which was true.
21:05 He did.
21:06 I also told you I had concerns about Cliff, how he was with Johnny Manziel.
21:15 If you went back and watched, I think it was on Netflix, but there was a documentary about
21:19 Johnny Manziel.
21:22 I was concerned about Texas Tech, where he gets fired, goes to Arizona, and doesn't succeed
21:30 there.
21:31 There were some great things he did, but a lot of questionable things.
21:33 I had issues about Cliff, not personally as a man or his integrity, just about his coach.
21:40 But to me, you let AP ride the train.
21:46 If that's who he wanted, he's got to be able to pick the people.
21:52 He should be able to buy the groceries if he's going to be in charge of cooking the
21:56 meal, which is a bill per sales line.
21:59 Now, Cliff Kingsbury is a man of integrity.
22:06 Someone said, "Well, Hondo's always saying this about everybody."
22:09 No.
22:13 There's lots of people I haven't said it about.
22:16 I'm just not going to use this platform to trash people.
22:19 You know the old saying, "If you have nothing good to say, don't say it."
22:21 So if I don't know them to be a person of integrity, I'm not going to say anything.
22:26 I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.
22:29 But Cliff's a man of integrity.
22:30 He just decided, "I don't want to be with the Raiders," so he leaves.
22:35 Then you go get Getzey.
22:38 You can go back and look before they hired an OC, I told you.
22:41 Don't rule out Getzey because I knew even after the Bears game that they were really
22:45 impressed with him, especially the Raiders defensive coaches were very impressed with
22:50 him.
22:51 I knew what happened at Mississippi State where he didn't have a great head coach, but
22:57 he was in charge of his offense and he did a great job.
23:01 I know I have friends who played in Green Bay when he was there.
23:06 I know what they thought of him.
23:08 I have one particular friend that was a lineman and I know what they thought of him.
23:13 I know the respect LeFleur had for him.
23:15 I know the respect that Mike McCarthy had for him.
23:19 And then I know the respect of people within the Bears organization, what they had for
23:28 him.
23:29 So I think it was a good hire.
23:31 Would Getzey have been the choice I would have made if I was Antonio Pierce?
23:36 I don't know that.
23:38 I wasn't in the interview.
23:41 And one of the things that I really respect of what Antonio Pierce did, he didn't go in
23:48 with this saying, "Okay, Cliff Kingsbury is my main target or Luke Getzey or Chip Kelly
23:54 or whomever."
23:56 He went in saying, "I want to interview a lot of people.
24:00 I want to give people an opportunity to wow me.
24:04 I want to give them an opportunity to show me what they think."
24:11 And because he was open-minded, that's how we settled on Getzey.
24:17 Now that brings us to the other one.
24:18 Someone said to me, "What about any concern?"
24:21 Yeah, here's another one.
24:24 Cliff Kingsbury, what he traditionally has done and Luke Getzey are two polar opposites.
24:37 So I think a rational person thinking rationally, using didactic reasoning, you'd say, "Wow,
24:47 that looks like it's all over the place because the two men run such different offenses."
24:52 I think that's a fair criticism.
24:58 But when you go behind the scenes, both men in the interview talked about not being married
25:07 to a system as much as being married to winning and adapting.
25:15 Nick Saban and Bill Belichick did a show together.
25:18 I wish I could remember where it was at.
25:20 I think it's on Max, but I apologize.
25:24 But it was a great show, phenomenal show.
25:28 And they talked about as they got older in their careers, realizing each team is different.
25:34 Each team evolves a different way.
25:37 You may target a guy in the draft, but he's not there.
25:41 I know for a fact, the Broncos had targeted Aiden O'Connell this year.
25:48 They really liked him.
25:50 They wanted him.
25:52 And boom, they were trying to get ahead of the Raiders.
25:57 Some people didn't move and the Raiders were able to take Aiden, who was very high on their
26:02 quarterback list.
26:03 Okay, well, imagine if the Denver had jumped in front.
26:09 So I think it's really important to understand and to ascertain that they went into this
26:17 not married to a system.
26:19 So I can see where the concern is, man, here's Cliff, here's Getze.
26:24 Is that something to be worried about?
26:26 I think it is if you don't understand how the interview process went.
26:30 I think it's absolutely a fair and germane criticism.
26:35 Well, you didn't get your main guy.
26:39 I wasn't my wife's first choice.
26:40 And I remember telling her when I asked her to marry me, wasn't your first choice.
26:44 But say yes, and I'll make sure that I don't regret that you made me your last choice.
26:50 And she did, thank God.
26:51 And so that's how I approach it.
26:54 But my deal is, is that if you trust AP and you wanted AP to be your coach, then trust
27:02 him to pick his staff.
27:03 It's not like the guy wants to lose.
27:06 He understand this is his dream job.
27:08 He understands he's only if he fails miserably, the chances are he's not going to get another
27:14 chance.
27:16 So if he's willing to use a Vegas term, go all in, put his chips in the table on Getze
27:24 and it's his future, ride with it.
27:28 Now, if you didn't want AP as a coach and you're disappointed in it, okay, I can see
27:35 where you would say, you know what, I don't like this.
27:38 He just gets the job and doesn't get his first guy.
27:41 Okay, that's fine.
27:42 I think those are fair and germane criticisms.
27:47 But if you're a Raider now, he is your coach.
27:50 Luke Getze is your offensive coordinator, saddle up and ride.
27:58 That's just the reality of the situation.
28:00 Now I want to talk about quarterbacks.
28:04 I think this is really super important.
28:09 I want to first give you some factual information and then I'm going to give you opinion and
28:16 it's opinion based on experience and information and then being a critical thinker.
28:34 Let's use that term.
28:36 So Aiden O'Connell is going to be a part of this team.
28:42 He's on a cheap deal.
28:43 He's got several years left on his rookie deal and whether you think so or not, he had
28:49 a tremendous rookie season.
28:52 Now, would it been a tremendous season for an Aaron Rodgers?
28:57 Of course not.
28:58 Patrick Mahomes?
29:00 No.
29:01 But go look at the stats when he played his worst game in Los Angeles with Josh McDaniels
29:09 who would do nothing to help him.
29:11 Statistically, he was better than Herbert.
29:17 And Herbert is, I mean, the belle of the ball.
29:22 People love Herbert most, not all, but most.
29:27 And he did it as a rookie.
29:29 He did it without AP having his OC.
29:33 He did it without two offensive coaches because remember, Mick Lombardi and Josh were both
29:39 offensive coaches.
29:40 They were gone.
29:42 He did it limited and AP went to him and said, listen, I need you to stop.
29:48 I don't need you taking unnecessary risks because I don't need you to go win football
29:52 games.
29:53 Just protect the football.
29:56 When opportunities there, we call the shots, we'll take the throws down the field, but
30:00 we're going to run the football.
30:02 Trust your arm.
30:03 Trust our defense to stop people.
30:06 Last nine games, nine touchdowns, one interception.
30:09 Last four games, eight touchdowns, no interceptions.
30:16 Saying he had a tremendous rookie year is like saying it was like me walking into Jenny
30:21 Craig.
30:22 Okay, I'm 256 pounds.
30:24 I've lost 180 pounds.
30:25 No surgery.
30:26 I may, depending on the group, be the skinniest fat person there, but I'm still fat.
30:34 Nobody's saying he played like any of those guys, but dear Lord, somebody give the kid
30:40 a little bit of slack.
30:41 It was his rookie year and he did exactly what his coach wanted.
30:46 And oh, by the way, they finished five and four.
30:50 And perhaps if they would have turned him loose a little bit more or had had their OC
30:56 or had had training camps or OTAs or mini camps, maybe they would have made able to
31:03 cut them loose a little bit and they would have won a Minnesota game or a few others.
31:09 Now this isn't me saying, and somebody's going to run off, Hondo says that Aiden O'Connell's
31:15 Padre Mahomes, whatever, Flamer.
31:19 No, I think we've seen enough from him to say he could be a QB one.
31:27 I also think we've seen enough to say the jury's still out.
31:31 And by the way, and I have a tremendous relationship with Aiden O'Connell.
31:35 I get along with him terrifically.
31:40 I believe those would be his words.
31:43 Nothing proven.
31:44 He knows that they're going to bring quarterbacks in.
31:48 He knows that.
31:49 He's very confident.
31:51 He's never once been afraid to compete.
31:55 He went to Purdue where he was like sixth or eighth on the depth chart, moves all the
31:59 way to the top.
32:00 Would have been a first rounder had he come out the year before.
32:05 Instead goes back because Purdue had never won a Big Ten championship or gone to the
32:08 Big Ten championship game.
32:12 Goes back because he's a competitor.
32:14 His brother passes away, goes through some tragedy.
32:17 And what's he do?
32:20 Competes.
32:22 Slips out of the first round because Purdue wasn't a haven of great talent.
32:27 But he's fine with it.
32:29 He's going to embrace whoever they pick, help teach them the ropes, give them the new system.
32:35 But a lot of it's going to be new, so he's going to be learning it too.
32:39 But this doesn't bother him.
32:41 And I'll tell you this, no matter when I'm covering football, any player at any position
32:47 that doesn't want competition, you don't want.
32:52 Bring it on.
32:54 Saddle up the horse.
32:57 Let's ride.
32:59 So that now I'm going to get into some conjecture here for a moment.
33:03 The Raiders are going to have new quarterbacks.
33:05 We know that.
33:07 I hondo opinion.
33:10 Again, this is based on experience, things I've heard, knowledge, and critical thinking.
33:19 I believe based on where Caleb Williams, Drake May, and Jaden Daniels are projected, the
33:28 Raiders moving up is highly unlikely.
33:32 Now, I don't think there's any chance they're moving up to get Caleb at one.
33:40 Nobody is going to pick him there.
33:42 There's enough shiny on him that people like.
33:46 Again, though, me talking to proven quarterback drafting people, they've all said he's going
33:56 to go number one or number two, maybe three, but he'll never get past three because there
34:03 are certain teams who always draft, I mean, who are always losing, who will either pick
34:09 him or go up and get him.
34:15 So there you go.
34:18 Drake May is a guy that a lot of teams are very high on.
34:24 And he'll go.
34:26 Jaden Daniels is a guy a lot of teams are very high on.
34:31 I can, so again, Hondo opinion is, I think getting any of those three is highly unlikely
34:40 just because of the cost, because a lot of teams are going to be bidding.
34:45 If they went up, I think at this point, Jaden would go as the third quarterback taken.
34:53 And I think if they had their choice today, and let me just tell you this, and this is
34:57 not opinion, this is factual, they have not made any decision yet.
35:04 No decision has been made.
35:06 And I've seen people say they've decided to go up for Jaden.
35:11 Absolutely.
35:12 I can tell you this 100% not true.
35:18 Not true.
35:19 It doesn't mean they won't.
35:22 They haven't made any decision like that at all.
35:25 If I was being, again, opinion, I would think that of the three, they would, if they moved
35:33 up and I think it's highly unlikely at this point, doesn't mean it won't change because
35:36 throughout the process, they may learn some things, whatever.
35:41 But I think throughout the process, if I had to pick right now, if they moved up for one,
35:48 it would be Jaden.
35:50 But I don't, I think it's highly unlikely at this point.
35:54 Now you've got some interesting things.
36:00 You've got some interesting stuff with Penix, who's a terrific quarterback.
36:08 He's absolutely terrific.
36:10 But every team I know that's a good drafting team is saying they love Penix, but he has
36:16 been injured so much in his career that you just cannot spend the draft capital that it
36:23 would take on somebody with a history like that of injury.
36:29 I thought that was fascinating.
36:31 In fact, one scout said to me, and one executive said, "Do you go up and give up capital for
36:39 Penix who's injured as much as Jimmy Garoppolo has been?"
36:43 I wasn't, you know, when he was at Indiana.
36:47 Those are all very fair criticism.
36:51 Now, you may be of the group that says, "Yeah, that's behind him.
36:56 He's a great quarterback."
36:57 And I agree.
36:58 Michael Penix is a great quarterback.
37:01 And so if you're convinced that the injury bug is behind him, then maybe that's not as
37:05 big of a risk for you.
37:07 We don't know where the Raiders sit right now.
37:11 Go Nix, talking to people who I trust, think there are some issues.
37:22 And I don't know if I'm able to voice this one, so I'm going to wait and I'll double
37:27 check.
37:28 But there are, he's a leader of men.
37:34 He's tough.
37:36 But there are some accuracy issues and some issues with him that you have to ask yourself,
37:40 "Okay, in the first round, are you willing to spend a pick on somebody where that's first
37:50 round capital?
37:53 Are you willing to do that on a guy that you have a second round grade on?"
37:57 Now you may remember Jud Heathcote.
38:00 He won the national title with Michigan State when they had Irvin "Magic" Johnson, Jay Vincent,
38:08 Fred Kelser, Kevin Smith, all those great teams, and they beat Larry Bird.
38:13 Years later, he was coaching a guy named Eric Snow.
38:16 Now Eric played in the NBA for many, many years.
38:18 His brother Percy was a Buckus Award winner in college, went on and was a first round
38:25 draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs.
38:30 And he sits down, Jud Heathcote sits down with Eric Snow and says, "I'm going to move
38:35 you to point guard."
38:38 And he goes, "Coach, I'm not a point guard and I want to play in the NBA."
38:41 Jud Heathcote told him something that is true no matter what sport.
38:46 He said, "It only takes one team to fall in love with you in the draft."
38:52 Now I want to go back, and this is documented by the way, this is not opinion.
38:56 Years ago, my mock draft, I was on Mike and Mike TV show and all of that.
39:02 I was the first national writer, the only one that I know of, I'm sure someone else
39:07 did, but that I knew of, that in my mock draft had Tim Tebow going in the first round to
39:13 the Broncos.
39:15 And he did to Josh McDaniels.
39:17 I had gotten information that the Broncos were in love with him and were going to pick
39:22 him.
39:23 Now, no other team that I talked to that year had him with a first round grade.
39:31 Every other team, the majority had him with a second round grade.
39:36 There were some with a third and the rest with a fourth.
39:40 But only one team I knew wanted him in the first round, and that was the Denver Broncos.
39:45 So it doesn't matter if there are a lot of teams that think there are issues with Bonicks,
39:52 not character issues, not just concerns, accuracy, whatever, maybe runs a little too quick, doesn't
39:59 stay in the pocket, whatever.
40:02 But if one team falls in love with him, it's all that matters.
40:05 Now, I know the Raiders have great interest in J.J. McCarthy.
40:10 And I told you the other day of a scout that told me when I did my first mock draft, right
40:15 now if the draft were today, he would go in the first round.
40:18 But there's going to be a lot of teams that get to know him.
40:20 And after his pro day, his stock is going to skyrocket.
40:24 Now, this team that drafts extremely well in the NFL draft for quarterbacks, extremely
40:31 well, they told me they had McCarthy as their number one quarterback on the board.
40:36 If they were picking a quarterback, they would pick J.J.
40:40 They're not.
40:42 But I think that was fascinating about J.J.
40:44 He completes 73% of his passes.
40:47 If you're concerned he hasn't thrown a lot, Michigan didn't have to.
40:50 Most of the time, they were running out leads.
40:56 There was one game, I think it was Penn State, where they ran 30 times in a row.
41:01 But you go watch him put the Alabama film in, put the Washington film in when he had
41:06 to throw.
41:07 I mean, the Alabama game, their defensive backfield had three first rounders, two corners
41:12 and a safety, and another safety that could be a first.
41:15 If not, it'd be a second.
41:18 And he looked outstanding.
41:20 And he runs, but like Patrick Mahomes, he knows when to run.
41:24 If it's a pass play, he waits to the last second.
41:27 There's a lot of things about J.J. McCarthy that the good picking NFL teams like.
41:35 So do I think there was any change?
41:39 Would the Luke Getty thing preclude them from signing up an experienced veteran and go pick
41:51 in another guy?
41:53 No, I think everything's on a table.
41:56 They, again, I can tell you this for 100% fact, this is not opinion.
42:01 They've not made any decision yet.
42:04 Not even close to making a decision yet.
42:08 Right now they're in the accumulative stage.
42:13 And later on, I would say to you probably somewhere around the 10th, 15th, maybe I think
42:26 the 10th of March probably is when they'll start formulating.
42:29 Okay, a game plan.
42:32 What are we going to do?
42:34 What are we going to do?
42:37 Although I have not been told this, I'm not reporting this as factual.
42:42 I will not be shocked if here in the next few weeks, if reports break that the Raiders
42:48 have called teams to find out the cost of moving up.
42:52 You have to do that every year.
42:56 And there are teams that are below the Raiders that are going to be calling them.
42:59 Are you willing to trade right now?
43:00 Not sure.
43:01 Get back with me.
43:03 And then they're going to set the bar very, very high right now.
43:08 Well, we'll consider it, but boy, this is what it's going to cost you.
43:13 I had one GM tell me one time recently when I was asking about pick 13.
43:20 He told me of a time his team was picking in the teens.
43:24 And when teams first called him before the combine and before he kind of had a plan,
43:30 he goes, we would throw out some huge offer, three first rounders.
43:33 Well, nobody's giving you that.
43:35 But that way, if somebody is just so dead set that they think they can get their guy,
43:39 great.
43:40 You know, I don't think the Raiders want to trade Devante Adams, but I think the only
43:46 guy in that roster who's not tradable for is Max Crosby.
43:52 You know, somebody could overpay and get Devante.
43:56 I believe that.
43:58 I think the Jets could.
44:02 Aaron Rodgers runs the Jets, if you didn't know that.
44:05 He is the general manager.
44:10 And if he said, hey, Woody, I want Devante, this is what it's going to cost us to get
44:17 in a Super Bowl next year, whether he's right or not, who knows.
44:22 And they're willing to make a stupid offer.
44:25 I think you have to make that trade.
44:28 But I think Max is the only guy on the table that if you called Tom Tolesco today, his
44:32 answers, no.
44:33 But I think everyone else would be on the table.
44:37 So I don't think they're close to doing that place evaluative where they're at.
44:42 This is just the behind the scenes on the draft, how it's all being laid out, what's
44:48 going on.
44:49 They're doing massive amounts.
44:54 Massive amounts.
44:55 I was told today by someone, Tolesco's burning the midnight oil.
45:03 And if you've not heard that term because you're young, burning the midnight oil back
45:06 before there were lights, you'd be burning that oil at night.
45:11 You could work during the day, but when you didn't have electricity, you had to burn the
45:14 oil, keep the lamps on.
45:17 And that's the old meaning.
45:18 He's just working a million hours, a million hours.
45:22 And really digging in, learning the roster, learning, reviewing scouting reports, all
45:29 of it.
45:31 He already had his evaluation on potential free agents that he brought with him, but
45:36 now it's to a new system.
45:39 So he had all of his evaluations of free agents with what Los Angeles did.
45:47 So now he has to go through, he can still use his old evaluations, but okay, here's
45:52 a guy that would have worked for us in Los Angeles, isn't going to work here.
45:55 So we take that off the board.
45:57 So that's what's going on.
45:59 That's opinion and fact and some foreshadowing of what I'm seeing at quarterback.
46:07 And then lastly, I want to talk to you about Max.
46:11 So if you didn't watch the video of our interview with Max, I did two of them yesterday.
46:18 One was a scrum with a bunch of media and then the other I did not put up.
46:23 That's coming later on a story I'm working on with Max.
46:27 I've got a story coming, Max Crosby, the man you don't know.
46:32 And I think you're going to really love it.
46:34 I think you're going to appreciate it and really get a side of Max that you didn't know.
46:46 And I'm really excited to bring that to you.
46:47 So that video is not up there, but go back and watch the video.
46:50 He talks about calling Getze.
46:53 He talks about visiting with Getze, excuse me, not calling, calling Tom Telesco as soon
46:59 as he got the job.
47:02 Just talking about his teammates, what are his teammates thoughts, being a leader.
47:07 He talks about his health.
47:10 I have a great relationship with Max and he's in great spirits.
47:17 I'll just tell you that his both of his surgery, he had a surgery on his knee and on his thumb
47:22 went great.
47:24 There's no other at this point expected any more surgeries.
47:29 Sometimes you got to go back in and clean up scar tissue or whatever.
47:31 He doesn't expect any of that.
47:33 So that's behind him.
47:35 He's been rehabbing for several weeks on the knee.
47:41 That's going fantastic.
47:42 His right arm is in a sling, but that's because they did surgery on the thumb.
47:49 But he's in great spirits, just tremendous spirits.
47:52 He's feeling great.
47:53 He's fired up.
47:54 The team is fired up.
47:57 This is a team that is all one minded right now.
48:02 And there's going to be great participation in a lot of things.
48:05 We'll just leave it there.
48:07 This team has bought in.
48:09 And I was very impressed watching Max yesterday, work with some kids at a local high school,
48:20 but just getting a chance to talk to him.
48:24 I know I have to be careful here.
48:32 I did a podcast about Max Crosby finding his voice.
48:36 If you didn't watch it, go back and watch it.
48:40 But there were a lot of people that took a lot of shots at Max for trying to run the
48:45 franchise and that wasn't what he was trying to do.
48:48 This is a man that most of last year risked his life, not just because of CTE, but at
48:55 one time his body's septic from an infection with his bursa that had to just get cleaned
49:01 up.
49:03 But he went out there.
49:04 He didn't care.
49:06 Nobody telling him to shut it down.
49:09 There isn't one person that would have been mad at him for shutting it down, but he would
49:14 have been.
49:16 I remember him telling me, "What do I say to all those fans who buy my jersey that come
49:22 to one game that want to see me?
49:24 Gee, I didn't play.
49:25 I was hurt.
49:26 If I can play, I'm going to play.
49:28 I owe it to my teammates.
49:29 I owe it to Mark Davis, who's paying me."
49:31 I mean, that's him.
49:34 That's his work ethic.
49:36 He wasn't saying, "If AP doesn't get the job, I demand a trade," because he was being
49:43 a bully.
49:46 He was saying, "I'm going to have to look at everything because if I think my organization
49:53 repeatedly makes mistakes that are precluding us from winning, if I'm a guy that's going
50:00 to play when my life's in danger, I want to know my franchise has the same commitment."
50:09 He did not tell me this, but I believe it hurt him the way some fans reacted because
50:16 some people tried to make it sound like, "This is just our hot take society.
50:20 Oh, let's take a hot take," rather than thinking reasonably and rationally and critically.
50:30 "Let's just have a hot take.
50:31 I want to be the first to call somebody out so I can say, 'I called it,'" whatever.
50:39 His heart was, "I'm going to give everything I got."
50:45 I didn't pull this when you hired Josh McDaniels, but if I'm going to be this guy, you better
50:55 know you better be that franchise.
50:57 If I'm going to be him, then you got to be them.
51:06 I think it hurt him.
51:09 It was good for me.
51:11 It was the first time I had seen him in person since the surgeries.
51:20 It was good for me to see that smile and that, "Let's go back in him."
51:27 I want everyone to know Max knows he spoke up.
51:35 Those players know they spoke up.
51:39 AP's success or failure is going to reflect as much on them as him.
51:48 Josh McDaniels failed.
51:51 I don't think anybody's blaming the players.
51:54 If AP fails, they're going to blame the players.
51:59 Rightfully so.
52:00 This is the guy you wanted.
52:01 Okay, we're giving him to you.
52:02 Okay, go make it happen.
52:03 A lot of good stuff going on.
52:09 Obviously, we're here at the Super Bowl.
52:11 I'm not going to get into a lot of Super Bowl because there are some things, if they're
52:16 germane to the Raiders, I'll discuss.
52:21 Sometimes I talk about macro NFL issues that may not be Raiders specific but do impact
52:27 the Raiders.
52:28 Nothing really happened today that was impactful of the Raiders.
52:34 A lot of good stuff.
52:36 Antonio Pierce was on McAfee, the third hour, which is only on YouTube.
52:41 Go watch it.
52:43 So much great stuff out there.
52:45 Make sure you're watching the Max Crosby video we put up.
52:48 I just want to again take a second and let you know.
52:50 I greatly appreciate all of you.
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54:13 God bless you, everybody.
54:14 Thanks for joining us.