Podcast: Reid on Raiders, Caldwell, Magic Impact, QBs in NFL Draft
Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast Andy Reid on the Raiders, A New Coach in Mike Caldwell, Earvin Magic Johnson Impacts the Silver and Black and QBs in the NFL Draft
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas
00:06 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:09 Great to be with you today.
00:10 We got a lot to get into.
00:12 We're going to really dig on some things.
00:14 We're going to talk about Chad Oshosinko.
00:16 We're going to talk about new linebackers coach and run game coordinator Mike Caldwell.
00:21 We're going to dig in on just a bunch of stuff going on.
00:24 We're going to talk about some signs of massive Raider improvement that we learned from the
00:33 Chiefs.
00:34 We're going to get into that of course.
00:37 And we're going to get into another issue with Magic Johnson.
00:41 So let's dig right in today.
00:43 Just want to take a quick second to tell all of you thank you for listening, subscribing,
00:48 linking, just click those buttons.
00:50 Thank you so much.
00:52 And it allows us to continue to bring you the best free coverage of the Raiders on the
00:57 internet.
00:58 So thank you so much.
00:59 We appreciate you.
01:00 And you guys are the best.
01:01 I want to dig in.
01:02 We wrote an article yesterday.
01:05 Ian Rapoport had reported that Magic Johnson gets a hold of Cliff Kingsbury and says, "Hey,
01:15 if you hadn't sold that," and this is a paraphrase, but "if you hadn't signed that contract, we'd
01:18 really like to have you in Washington."
01:20 Totally brought about the change.
01:26 Now a couple things that I think are very important to mention about that.
01:32 Wasn't like Irvin broke any rules.
01:35 There was no contract, but he certainly interfered with what AP wanted to do, but there were
01:42 no rules broken.
01:45 That's not the way that Irvin operates, you know, breaking rules.
01:49 But I want to go back because I think it's very important to reiterate, and I'm just
01:55 going to spend a couple seconds here.
01:57 I'm not going to spend a ton of time, but it's very important to reiterate.
02:00 You don't want people who don't want to be part of your team.
02:04 You want guys who are all in.
02:08 I think you're seeing some interesting things with Getty.
02:13 I had a lot of people on social media or email saying to me, "Okay, great.
02:19 Antonio Pierce said this guy kicked our butt.
02:21 That's why we hired him.
02:22 Why do you hire a guy after one game?"
02:24 It wasn't one game.
02:27 Antonio was making clear this is what he did against us.
02:31 And then he also, you know, he was referring to that because that's a common denominator
02:36 that most people can go back if they DVR the games and watch.
02:40 It was more than that.
02:42 It was respect that he had built over a long period of time.
02:47 And everybody has bosses.
02:51 So let me give you an example.
02:54 There was a lot of people who wanted Antonio Pierce to be the head coach of the Las Vegas
02:57 Raiders when last season ended.
03:00 But the year before, a lot of people didn't know that he, you know, I mean, they knew
03:04 he was on the staff.
03:05 They knew who he was, but they wanted the defensive staff fired.
03:10 And a few months later, they're screaming for him to be the head coach.
03:15 Everybody's got bosses.
03:17 It's very important to remember.
03:20 And so you look at guys, you look at schemes, you look at things that they did, you analyze
03:27 and say, "Okay, how does this work in our environment?"
03:29 I'll give you a very, very quick story, but it's completely germane to this.
03:33 I have a friend who is a very successful NFL coach.
03:39 And he went to a place because something had happened to his head coach, even though he
03:43 had done very, very well.
03:46 And he goes to a place where his new head coach wanted things done a certain way.
03:54 And he went from being super respected to not being respected.
03:57 And as soon as he could, he got out and went to a place that said, "Hey, we want you to
04:03 do what you do."
04:06 That's why it's really important.
04:07 How many times have you worked for a boss that either tells you how to do everything
04:10 or empowers you to do it?
04:13 Let you do it.
04:14 "Hey, I'm not going to babysit you.
04:17 I'm not going to be looking over your shoulder.
04:19 I hired you to do this job.
04:20 If you can't do it, I'll replace you."
04:24 That's what people prefer.
04:27 People who are driven, people who are entrepreneurial, people who are self-motivated, rugged individualists
04:35 want to be left alone and let me do my job.
04:40 And you just got to remember that when you're dealing with people.
04:44 Remember, less than a year before, people were clamoring for Antonio Pierce to get the
04:51 head coaching job.
04:52 People were clamoring for the defensive coaches to be fired.
04:55 So that's just a point of reference to remember.
04:58 Magic didn't break any rules, but I think he did the Raiders a favor.
05:05 I think he did the Raiders a humongous favor.
05:09 You're not all in.
05:10 See ya.
05:11 See ya.
05:12 Don't need you.
05:13 And we want you to be happy and we want to be happy is how I would assume AP took it.
05:23 Okay, great.
05:24 And I loved it.
05:25 I asked my media members the other day, "What happened to Cliff?"
05:28 He goes, "I ain't talking about people that ain't Raiders."
05:30 It was great.
05:34 I want to address another issue.
05:37 So I had a great visit with Max the other day.
05:39 If you didn't watch the video, you should have.
05:42 But he reiterated to me that the surgeries went great.
05:47 He's not anticipating any other surgeries.
05:49 He had a knee and his thumb repaired and he's not anticipating any other surgeries.
05:54 They're going to be locked and loaded, ready to go.
05:56 OTAs, mini camps, all that.
05:58 He's going to be locked and loaded and ready to go.
06:01 I think that's super important.
06:03 Sometimes you do a surgery and then you got to go back and have maybe some scar tissue
06:07 cleaned up or some other things that just kind of slow progress.
06:13 And that's not been a great concern and isn't one as he moves forward.
06:18 All right.
06:19 I want to talk about Mike Caldwell.
06:21 AP hired him.
06:24 Nothing's been sent out from the team, but AP hired him to be the linebacker coach and
06:30 to be the run game coordinator, defensive run game coordinator.
06:35 Caldwell played in the league for 11 years.
06:37 He was last two years, he was a defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
06:42 So the first year went very well.
06:44 Last year did not go well for a lot of different reasons.
06:49 Some of them very much defensive issues.
06:52 Some of them things that were wanted to be run.
06:58 And some were the Jaguars down the stretch collapsed in several areas.
07:06 And one of the things you want to remember if you've ever played the game Jenga and it's
07:13 where you pull pieces out while a football team is really like a big Jenga board.
07:17 I mean, how many times, I mean, we all know how good the Las Vegas Raiders defense was
07:22 this year.
07:23 It was phenomenal.
07:25 The best in the NFL after Antonio Pierce took over.
07:30 But you can't just praise that without praising what AJ Cole did, putting the ball in some
07:38 difficult areas for opposing teams.
07:41 So because of what AJ Cole did, it was like a Jenga board.
07:45 And then the offense wasn't taking risks.
07:47 I mean, A04, Aiden O'Connell had one interception in his last five games.
07:56 So they protected the football, part of the Jenga board.
07:59 AJ Cole buried people in terrible field position, part of the Jenga board.
08:04 Defense played well, part of the Jenga board.
08:06 Now I'm not minimizing what Patrick Graham did.
08:08 He's not a good coach.
08:09 He's a great coach.
08:14 But it's understanding that when you look at people who fail, now, let's give a quick
08:21 example.
08:23 When a team fails, that sits on the head coach, everything rises and falls on leadership.
08:29 But sometimes you look at a defensive coordinator who fails and you look at an offense that
08:33 put them in bad positions.
08:34 Now that certainly was not the situation in Jacksonville in totality, but down the stretch
08:41 that team began to struggle.
08:43 So then it puts stress on every area.
08:46 Building a house one time, I'll never forget there was an expanse in my house and the engineer
08:51 talked about this load and that load and how you balance it.
08:54 And I said to him, I'm not an architect, can you explain?
08:56 And he said, yeah, you want to be able to spread the load.
09:00 And then he used the football analogy because it's a lot like football.
09:05 You want your whole team in totality to win.
09:08 You got to be good at special teams, got to be good at defense, offense.
09:11 Your offense can't take risks to put your defense in a bad spot, but your defense has
09:15 to rise up and put your offense in some good spots with some turnovers.
09:19 It's all interconnected.
09:22 Now there are times, there are times, let's go back to what Tony Dungy did with the Tampa
09:30 Bay Buccaneers.
09:32 Put together a phenomenal defense, not good, phenomenal, phenomenal.
09:40 But they struggled offensively.
09:44 So what do the Buccaneers do?
09:46 We've got the defense in place, we need to fix the offense and they go get John Gruden
09:50 and win a Super Bowl.
09:51 Now there are a lot of people that believe, just like you saw for years, the Pistons trying
10:01 to beat the Detroit Pistons back in the bad boy era, trying to beat the Celtics, finally
10:06 crossed that line and did beat them.
10:09 Then there was Jordan and the Bulls trying to beat out the Pistons and they failed a
10:12 few times until finally they did.
10:14 A lot of people believe that Tony Dungy had that team, that was really the issue, that
10:20 they would have won a Super Bowl the next year with or without Gruden.
10:22 The point of matter is, is it doesn't matter what the belief is, Gruden came in and won
10:28 the Super Bowl.
10:30 And so it's very important.
10:31 So Caldwell, 11 seasons in the NFL, got into coaching, last two years, his first two years
10:36 were with Jacksonville, his first year was very good.
10:41 Part of last year was very good.
10:42 And then the team as a whole began to collapse, not pretending any of it wasn't on the defense
10:50 because there were some defensive lapses.
10:53 But there were offenses too, there were some special teams issues.
10:56 And he was the one that paid the price for it.
11:00 I like this hire for a couple of reasons.
11:04 He's very tough.
11:07 He played linebacker like Antonio Pierce did.
11:12 He's tough, his linebackers are tough.
11:14 He has shown an ability to develop linebackers.
11:18 Now, Raiders have Robert Spallane, who's really, really good, should have been an All-Pro this
11:23 year.
11:24 Okay.
11:25 But they've got Divine Diablo, who certainly is growing.
11:31 And so Luke Masterson and others, I'm not saying they don't have others.
11:36 This is a guy that's going to be able to come in and develop guys.
11:39 This was a really good, solid hire.
11:42 It was a great hire, actually, in my opinion, by AP.
11:46 There were a lot of really good people available.
11:49 So I can probably think of four or five, if he would have hired, I would have said it
11:53 would have been a good hire.
11:54 But this is a good one.
11:55 And you get a guy that has former defensive coordinator experience.
12:00 Again, adding experience to your staff.
12:04 This is a theme, a very, very good theme.
12:08 Now, Andy Reid talked yesterday, and I was over at the team hotel.
12:17 But he talked yesterday about the Raiders game on Christmas Day, and how he went in
12:24 and took it on the chin.
12:27 Told the team, "Hey, I'm taking this one on my chin."
12:30 I want to address this really quick, because I thought it was fascinating.
12:40 Because I don't know that people realize, you know, the way teams, championship teams
12:46 operate is they take care of the people they were supposed to take care of.
12:50 The Chiefs entered that Christmas Day game.
12:54 And you may remember, if not, you can go back and watch the podcast.
12:57 That's what I love about the digital age.
13:00 I told you that when I pick a game, I have 10 sets of criteria.
13:05 And in that Chiefs game, I had six to four Chiefs.
13:09 So normally I'd pick the Chiefs.
13:12 But one of the very rare times, and I told you before the game, I'm going against my
13:16 system.
13:18 I'm picking the Raiders.
13:19 And I gave you my reasons why.
13:22 One of the reasons that I gave you was that the Raiders were much improved, even though
13:27 it only been a few short weeks since they played.
13:31 And that I thought that the Chiefs would overlook them.
13:37 That's a danger when you are a championship level team.
13:41 I already beat them a couple of weeks ago.
13:43 They're going to lay down this time.
13:46 Nate's comments were an incredible compliment, incredible compliment to AP.
13:57 Essentially saying, "Hey, you know what?
14:00 This one's on me.
14:01 I didn't have the guys ready."
14:02 You know, they came in looking for a street fight.
14:06 We came in Nickelodeon, let's get slimed.
14:10 It's Christmas Day.
14:11 Taylor's here.
14:13 And we got a butt kick.
14:15 And that's a huge compliment to your Raider organization and to your Raider team.
14:20 And it should be taken as such.
14:23 Should be taken as such.
14:26 And so I wanted to make sure that you understood his comment and context was, "Hey, this was
14:32 on me as a coach.
14:34 I didn't have them ready that this was a different team."
14:37 I think that sent a message for 2024 that the Raiders are going to be different.
14:44 They're going to look different.
14:46 They're going to play with that intensity.
14:49 But that was something that teams didn't necessarily see.
14:53 All right.
14:55 I want to get into another issue that I think is important.
15:03 I've had several people ask me, with Max Crosby's statement, do I feel like it caused any tension
15:11 between him and Mark Davis?
15:15 Absolutely not.
15:16 Now, I did another interview with Max one-on-one that I have not put up yet in which he and
15:21 I talked about it.
15:23 So we're going to get to that.
15:24 That one will come later after the Super Bowl.
15:26 But I want you to know he loves Mark.
15:29 They are close.
15:31 A lot of people thought Max was being manipulative.
15:36 That's fine.
15:37 You're entitled to that opinion.
15:39 But I want you to know Max and Mark are close.
15:43 They have a good relationship.
15:47 A good one.
15:48 And I think it's important for you to know that.
15:52 And I talked to Max specifically about it.
15:55 Now, one other thing about the Max interview that I did do that's up that you can go watch
15:59 the video that I thought was so important was he talked about, I think it was breakfast,
16:04 maybe lunch, but having a meal with Getze when he was there interviewing.
16:11 And that's what happens when you get championship level players.
16:16 They're in the building every day.
16:18 Yeah, he had surgery still in the building every single day.
16:22 I can't tell you, I probably had four, maybe five media people ask me, you know, from around
16:32 the country this week here at the Super Bowl, you know, about Max, about, you know, what
16:37 kind of guy he is.
16:38 I mean, he's in the facility almost every day.
16:42 He's in the facility more than a lot of the staff and working hard.
16:48 And so when he sees Getze, he goes over.
16:50 That's what team leaders do.
16:52 And he was super excited that Getze got it.
16:55 Now, I know a lot of you are not.
16:57 That's fine.
16:59 But I think it's important to share with you, you know, what are other people feeling?
17:06 You know, Max Crosby doesn't want to lose.
17:08 He's tired of the losing.
17:11 And Getze, in talking to him, was able to win him over.
17:14 And let me tell you, that's not an easy job.
17:17 Max Crosby is very smart and he's nobody's fool.
17:22 Nobody's fool.
17:23 And so for him to have had that interaction with Getze, pick his brain and say, boy, I
17:30 like this guy.
17:31 That was a super big deal.
17:32 Lastly, I want to talk about, I spent some time yesterday in the podcast talking about
17:37 quarterbacks and I said no decision's been made.
17:43 I think the cost of moving up to be able to get Caleb May, Caleb Williams, Drake May,
17:53 or Jane Daniels is going to be humongously significant.
17:59 I don't know that the Raiders are going to be willing to pay it.
18:01 Now, if they fall in love with somebody through this process and they're like, listen, this
18:06 is our next Kenny Stabler, I think they would do it.
18:14 So we're going to wait there and just see what happens.
18:18 But as you know, I like to talk with people from other organizations.
18:26 I like to talk to people who get their feedback, get their process.
18:33 If I'm looking at defensive tackles, I'm going to talk with somebody from an organization
18:38 with a history of getting quality defensive tackles.
18:41 If I'm going to talk to somebody about a quarterback, I go to people.
18:44 Now I still talk to teams who maybe don't have a good track record of quarterback because
18:49 they're going to probably be drafting one.
18:53 I like to know what they think.
18:55 I think Drake May, Caleb Williams, and Jane Daniels all go in the top six.
19:02 They could go top three, easily go top three.
19:10 I don't know that they will right now.
19:12 I think all of that depends what happens with Chicago.
19:18 If Chicago sticks with Justin Fields and somebody trades up there, or does Chicago keep it and
19:26 grab a Marvin Harrison?
19:29 So we're going to wait and see how that plays out a little bit.
19:31 But right now, I don't see any scenario in talking with multiple teams.
19:39 Now there are multiple teams that think only one of those three deserves to be picked in
19:46 the top six.
19:48 But talking to every team, the consensus is they're going to go quick.
19:53 And there are some who think J.J. McCarthy, after pro days and interviews, is going to
19:58 skyrocket into the top five as well.
20:01 I've told you.
20:03 I have three teams tell me that they think J.J. McCarthy is one of the top two quarterbacks.
20:12 One told me they think he is the best, and two told me they thought he was a second.
20:18 So we're going to wait and see how all this folds out.
20:21 This is going to be a huge quarterback class.
20:24 There could be as many as six go in the first round.
20:27 I have trouble buying that because when you get to the end of the first round, even though
20:35 in 2011 they changed the salary cap so it's not as big of a financial risk.
20:43 I have trouble right now sitting here on February, I don't even know what the date is, eight,
20:50 wrapping my arms around six.
20:54 But I'm not saying it won't happen.
20:55 We're going to watch it as it gets closer.
20:57 But many of you emailed and asked me, what is the one quarterback that you see similar
21:07 to Caleb Williams?
21:09 And talking about scenario.
21:11 So I want to go back and share this with you.
21:14 Zach Williams, I mean Zach Wilson, excuse me.
21:19 Zach Wilson, the quarterback out of BYU had a lot of teams just salivating.
21:31 A lot of teams wanted Zach Wilson really, really bad.
21:35 And I remember talking to some of the teams that I talked to about quarterbacks who were
21:41 like, "We don't have a first round grade on him."
21:46 Now in the interest of fair disclosure, I loved Zach Wilson.
21:51 That's why I mean, I think I'm a good evaluator of talent, but I'm nowhere near these other
21:56 people because I thought Zach Wilson was a guy that really could shine.
22:05 I also said, though, I'm not a scout, so I'm not around him.
22:08 I don't know his maturity level, all of that.
22:11 But what I saw on the field in pro day very much impressed me.
22:18 And so those same people who told me, "Yeah, we're not buying on Zach Wilson," are the
22:25 same ones like, "We're not buying on Caleb Williams."
22:28 And again, I'm not hating on Caleb.
22:30 Seems like a great kid.
22:32 I mean, I'll tell you what, it's fun to watch him, boy.
22:36 That young man does some phenomenal things.
22:39 He does some magical things with football.
22:43 So it's not because I don't like him.
22:47 I think he's fantastic.
22:49 But I'm telling you what I'm hearing from other people, and they're the same ones who
22:53 were like, "Not buying the Zach Wilson train."
22:55 Now, subsequently, all of those people love CJ Stroud.
23:07 All of those people that I trust are generational.
23:13 And one used generational, not all of them.
23:17 The others are like, "Yeah, he's worthy of that first-round pick."
23:20 There are some concerns just because we don't know him well, but yeah, he's worthy of it.
23:27 We think we would select him if we were up there.
23:30 And I brought that up because I want to keep reiterating what general managers have told
23:35 me.
23:36 There's a reason you see the same certain teams every year picking at the top of the
23:40 draft.
23:42 That's very important to remember that.
23:44 And lastly, I want to reiterate this to you.
23:48 Had a general manager tell me eight teams in the NFL are 100% certain they have a quarterback
23:53 that can win them a Super Bowl.
23:57 Eight teams think they do, and the other 16 are trying to become one of the top 16.
24:04 And so I think that's very important to remember.
24:07 I think it's very important to process that in your mind and understand with the Raiders,
24:14 there's going to be additional quarterbacks brought to this team, period.
24:20 There's going to be competition, period.
24:23 Listen, they're going to bring in more defensive ends over the years, and they're going to
24:29 compete with Max.
24:30 I don't think anybody's going to beat Max, and I don't think they think anybody's going
24:34 to beat Max.
24:35 But that's how AP operates.
24:37 Compete, compete, compete.
24:39 And guess what?
24:40 The best ones love it.
24:43 They love it.
24:46 I know Max very well.
24:47 If I told Max, "Hey, they're going to select a DE number one in the first round," he's
24:51 going to be like, "Wow, that's going to really push Malcolm."
24:54 Why?
24:55 Because he's confident.
24:56 He's confident.
24:57 Let's go.
24:58 If you make us better, you make us better.
25:04 Aiden O'Connell, he knows they're going to bring more quarterbacks in.
25:08 He's good with it.
25:09 He doesn't mind that.
25:13 He's used to competing.
25:16 And that's what you want out of your best players.
25:19 So as the Super Bowl continues to progress, there's where we are today with the Raiders.
25:23 Again, Mike Caldwell, the new linebacker coach, I think that was a very good addition.
25:28 Now once Super Bowl's over and the entire staff's announced, we're going to go through
25:33 and break down every single coach, everyone, strengths, weaknesses, everything else.
25:41 So I think you're going to be really impressed.
25:43 We're going to give you the complete lowdown.
25:47 Someone asked me the other day, "When are you going to give me the nitty gritty from
25:49 Sin City?"
25:50 I thought that was kind of cute.
25:53 But we're going to break it all down for you.
25:56 We're going to discuss it with you.
25:58 We're going to give it to you.
25:59 A lot of great stuff coming.
26:01 Thanks for being with us today.
26:02 We have some awesome articles coming.
26:04 So from all of us at Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation, Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,
26:08 please make sure follow us on IG, @HondoSR.
26:13 Follow us on @X, formerly known as Twitter, @HondoCarpenter.
26:16 By the way, I love it.
26:18 People are tweeting me pictures of them wearing black shoes with white socks.
26:25 I love it.
26:27 So a lot of fun, having a good time with it.
26:30 Again, I got some really good Raider stuff that I think you're going to enjoy coming.
26:35 But thanks for joining us today.
26:36 Have a wonderful day, everybody.
26:37 We'll see you soon.
26:38 Be safe and enjoy it.