Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast Sets the Record Straight On APs Contract, Davante Adams on Getsy, Maxx Crosby Doesn't Win DPOY, More
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas
00:07 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:08 Great to be with you today.
00:10 It is super, super early.
00:12 I apologize.
00:13 I'm wearing the same shirt I wore yesterday, but I haven't been to bed yet.
00:17 And so I'm not trying to impress you with a wardrobe, and I don't want you to think
00:21 I, boy, this guy doesn't shower.
00:23 I do.
00:24 I just haven't been to bed yet.
00:25 So please show me a little bit of grace.
00:27 I appreciate you all.
00:28 It's great to be with you.
00:29 I want to thank you, our subscribers, our listeners, going through the roof.
00:35 We're growing exponentially, and it's all because of you guys.
00:39 It has nothing to do with me.
00:40 It has everything to do with all of you.
00:42 I appreciate you.
00:44 I'm grateful for you, and I just want you to know it.
00:47 We have some very important things to talk about today.
00:51 This is going to be very, very important from start to finish.
00:56 And we've got some major issues to address.
01:01 I am going to have an article later today that you don't want to miss.
01:04 It's going to give a lot more details.
01:06 I was asked by someone to look into all these rumors.
01:14 Now, there was a lot of rumors that Cliff Kingsbury was only offered a two-year deal
01:20 because that was all that AP got.
01:24 Now, the Raiders do not comment on coaching contracts.
01:29 That's not because it's AP.
01:30 That's not what they do.
01:32 So I don't blame the Raiders at all.
01:38 But there was just so much crap, and it's just disrespectful of Antonio Pierce.
01:44 It's disrespectful of the Raiders.
01:45 It's disrespectful of Mark Davis.
01:48 And people just can say whatever they want.
01:52 And just make sure you read my article.
01:56 But I want to let you know, and in my article, I'm going to give a lot more details.
02:00 I have dug into this.
02:03 It's absolutely, fundamentally, completely untrue.
02:08 Untrue.
02:09 And we're going to leave it right there.
02:14 AP did not get a two-year deal.
02:17 It's just ridiculous.
02:18 And I'll have a lot more details in my article.
02:22 But it's just like people that say the Raiders are broke.
02:24 Just not true.
02:26 But people just keep saying it, and whatever.
02:30 I can't do anything about it.
02:32 But I want you to know, in the article, I'm actually going to get into a lot more details
02:37 about a person reaching out to me who was very frustrated.
02:42 I'm going to tell you how I went about to find out information when the Raiders don't
02:47 talk about contracts.
02:48 And, oh, by the way, AP didn't tell me.
02:52 But I'm going to be addressing this.
02:54 But I want to just let you know, because I think when you say that, first of all, you
02:58 make Mark Davis look like a jerk.
03:01 And then you make AP look desperate.
03:05 And it's just fundamentally unfair.
03:08 And I'm going to say this.
03:09 If you spread that kind of crap, you can say you're a Raider fan, and a lot of people may
03:14 believe you.
03:15 I don't.
03:18 I'm not even a fan, and I wouldn't spread that crap.
03:21 But it's completely BS and not true.
03:25 So we're going to leave it there.
03:29 And I just want to get that out of the way, because I sometimes, with Raider Nation, and
03:38 I get it, people are frustrated.
03:40 It's been 20 years of failure.
03:42 I get it.
03:44 But there are some people that just want to divide Raider Nation, and it makes no sense
03:49 to me.
03:51 None.
03:53 And it just, okay, they hated Derek, loved Derek.
03:58 We're on one side, on another side, on other issues.
04:01 It just seems like every issue, well, I didn't get my way.
04:04 My coach wasn't picked.
04:05 Oh, Mark didn't like him either.
04:07 You people forced him to hire him, and he only got a two-year deal.
04:11 You're welcome to say whatever you want, but you sound stupid because you're saying stuff
04:15 that isn't true.
04:17 And that's where that stuff gets proliferated.
04:22 I've had people say it on my social media or in comments, just say, "Well, that's why
04:26 you only got a two-year deal."
04:27 I mean, give me a break.
04:35 You know what?
04:36 This is an organization full of good people.
04:39 Has Mark Davis, every decision he made, I agreed with?
04:43 No.
04:45 But I don't ever think Mark Davis set out or has ever set out to do anything to hurt
04:51 the Raiders.
04:54 And guess what?
04:55 Over my life, I've made decisions that looking back, I disagree with.
04:59 I completely disagree with.
05:03 So why would I get mad at Mark for something I've done?
05:07 But he's not a bad guy.
05:09 He cares.
05:11 And now that his franchise has money, he's been willing to spend it and he's been willing
05:14 to do whatever.
05:17 And I have a ton of respect for AP as well.
05:19 Good man.
05:20 That's a good man.
05:22 I mean, he's a great father, tremendous husband, loves and adores his bride.
05:29 He's a hard worker.
05:32 This is his dream job.
05:34 You don't think he should get it?
05:36 There are a lot of people that didn't think AP should have got the job, who I thought
05:39 had really good reasons for it.
05:41 I disagreed with them.
05:42 But when they gave great, incredible answers, great and credible, not incredible, great
05:50 and credible, I'm like, OK, that's a fair opinion.
05:56 Some people still pouting because he didn't get a hardball.
05:58 All right.
05:59 He didn't get him.
06:00 Could have had him.
06:01 Didn't want him.
06:02 So you're going to turn on AP because you didn't get your guy?
06:07 Come on now.
06:10 But that BS, the two year deal is just disrespectful.
06:16 And it causes frustration and angst in people.
06:21 And it makes the Raiders look bad.
06:23 It makes AP look bad because then some people believe that crap.
06:33 This shouldn't be that way.
06:35 Make sure you read my article.
06:37 I want to also get on to another issue.
06:40 So yesterday I got to spend significant time with Devante Adams, Micah Parsons and DeMar
06:46 Hamlin, three just terrific young men, just great guys.
06:53 And it was at a private event, a Make-A-Wish event.
06:58 It was the largest Make-A-Wish event for as far as number of kids in history, 20 kids.
07:05 I put the video, I got a chance to talk to the national CEO of Make-A-Wish.
07:08 It's on my Twitter account.
07:10 I really encourage you to go listen to it.
07:12 Leslie was just awesome.
07:16 But I had a chance to talk to Devante.
07:18 I really encourage you to go watch that video.
07:23 Listen to him talk about, Devante does so many things that when cameras aren't there
07:31 and that's his nature.
07:33 But I encourage you to go watch the video if you haven't seen it, or go read my story
07:37 on Luke Getze.
07:39 He talked about Getze.
07:40 It was his first public comments about Getze.
07:43 Super excited that Getze got the job.
07:44 I told you all that they had talked to Devante before making the hire.
07:51 He is super jacked up and fired up about it.
07:54 Super jacked up.
07:55 He had an interesting comment about running the West Coast and that's what he's comfortable
08:00 with.
08:01 And I'm going to get more into that in another podcast later next week.
08:07 But I may even get into it tomorrow, but either tomorrow or later next week.
08:11 But I think you're going to really enjoy it.
08:13 I think you're going to really like it.
08:15 Some really solid, good stuff with Devante.
08:18 So if you didn't see that video, please go watch it.
08:21 Talking about Getze and just his excitement.
08:24 And I understand there are people who don't like the Getze hire who have good, incredible
08:31 opinions.
08:34 I can't argue with them.
08:37 I think it's a good hire because I think you let your coach pick his guy.
08:44 But there are people who have given really good reasons of why they didn't like the Getze
08:49 hire.
08:50 And while I disagree with them, I don't think they're stupid for having a differing opinion.
08:57 Their opinions are credible.
08:58 But if you just say, "I don't like Getze because he sucked last year in Chicago."
09:08 There's people who will bitch if they have to pay taxes when they win the lottery as
09:11 well.
09:12 So I can't say nothing about that.
09:14 But when people have a good, credible opinion, you should be able to talk to people.
09:18 You should be able to be reasonable and listen to people.
09:24 Doesn't make them less of a Raider fan.
09:28 But I don't care what side of any issue you stood on.
09:32 Politics, sports, whatever.
09:35 People that just want to be blowhards with no reasonable didactic intellectual base of
09:43 opinion, whatever.
09:46 So, anyways, it was a phenomenal talk by Devante about Luke.
09:56 Really, really good.
09:57 And I think a lot of you, maybe if you're sitting on the fence, you should go listen
10:00 to it or go read what I wrote and really get his response.
10:07 I was very impressed spending time with Micah Parsons yesterday and Demar Hamlin and Devante
10:15 as well at this event.
10:18 I was very impressed listening to Micah and listening to how respectful he was.
10:29 I want to say this because I don't want to over-represent it.
10:33 When I say in awe, it didn't mean like, "Ahh."
10:39 But when you see the respect, a star like Micah Parsons, and let's not pretend that
10:44 he's not a star.
10:47 He's a star.
10:51 The respect that he showed Devante, just very deferential to him, very complimentary.
11:03 When he wasn't there and he talked about getting to be around Devante, watching him and Devante
11:13 talk, he picked Devante's brain the whole time, just wanting to talk to him.
11:19 The kids now call it chopping it up.
11:22 They were chopping it up.
11:24 I know that sounds stupid when it comes out of an old man's mouth, but just for our younger
11:29 audience to understand what I'm talking about, they were just, my generation would say, "Shooting
11:36 the crap," or "Chewing the good."
11:40 Just talking and laughing and giving each other the business.
11:43 Then watching DeMar Hamlin, and he has not changed the world with his play as a football
11:52 player, but he impacted the world with his injury.
11:59 It impacted the world.
12:04 Just so humble and so kind.
12:09 One little kid said, "You're my hero."
12:13 DeMar Hamlin said, "No, no, no, no, no.
12:20 You're fighting a sickness.
12:22 You're my hero."
12:23 That kid's eyes, here's his hero, DeMar Hamlin, telling him, "You're my hero."
12:30 You should have seen it.
12:33 The kid didn't have tears in his eyes, but his eyes had, I mean, he didn't have tears
12:39 coming out of his eyes, but his eyes watered.
12:43 None of the kids knew these guys were coming to the event.
12:47 It was just great.
12:48 You know what?
12:49 The next time somebody tells you all football players are this, or this young generation
12:54 is all this, just throw that crap out.
12:59 I have such zenith love for our country and belief in our people.
13:10 I do.
13:12 I don't want to hear your Republican, Democrat crap.
13:15 I don't want to hear any of that.
13:17 I just have such fervent love and affection for my country and my countrymen and women.
13:25 I believe in this country.
13:26 I'll never stop believing it.
13:28 No matter what happens or how divided America gets, I'm not going to hate people that disagree
13:34 with me.
13:35 I'm not going to give up my belief in this precious country.
13:41 I'm tired of people talking bad about our young people.
13:44 Here's DeMar Hamlin and Micah Parsons, two young superstar players.
13:50 Micah, one of the best young players in the entire league, a kid that looks like he's
13:55 on the fast track, the diamond lane.
13:59 For those of you in the North country where I'm from, out West here, they'll have these
14:04 diamond lanes where there's a diamond in the middle of it.
14:06 It means if you've got more than one person in your car, you can go fast and avoid traffic.
14:13 It just means it's a quicker lane.
14:14 I didn't know what that was until I moved out here.
14:19 Clearly Micah Parsons is in the diamond lane towards what could be a Hall of Fame career.
14:25 While DeMar doesn't seem to be on a Hall of Fame career, he certainly is probably bigger,
14:34 more well-known than Micah and Devontae because he touched our nation.
14:40 Watching these guys and their love of people was moving.
14:49 I don't want to hear people tell me about, "This sucks, that sucks, this generation sucks."
14:54 You don't like the younger generation because their face is in an Xbox, then guess what?
14:59 Raise them better.
15:01 Don't blame them.
15:04 I don't blame a generation of kids whose parents didn't want to spend time with them, so they
15:08 bought them a computer and said, "Leave me alone."
15:11 Raise them better.
15:13 I believe in you.
15:14 I believe in this country.
15:15 I'll tell you, every time I hear people that want to talk bad about others, I just don't
15:21 want to hear that.
15:23 Watching DeMar and Devontae and Micah was very special.
15:29 I enjoyed it.
15:30 It was a great event.
15:31 Make sure you get Devontae's comments on Getze.
15:35 Very, very good.
15:46 The Raiders going to hire Mike Caldwell, which I thought was a very, very good hire.
15:53 He's a former defensive coordinator with the Jags.
15:55 He's going to do linebackers and be the run game defensive coordinator.
16:00 Good hire.
16:02 Good hire.
16:03 There are a lot of guys that I think would have been good hires for that, so AP got his
16:07 guy and it was a good hire.
16:09 They continue to march, continue to move forward, continue to put this staff together.
16:18 Sometime after the Super Bowl, when all the staff's done, we're going to do a lot on this
16:25 team and you guys are going to be completely knowledgeable about the assistant coaches
16:33 because I want you to be able to go into next season and key up on points and some things.
16:40 I think the Raiders have a tremendously talented defensive backfield.
16:46 Okay.
16:49 We know that Justin Simmons is leaving.
16:51 He's going to the commanders.
16:53 So Chris Ashe is gone and Justin Simmons is gone.
17:00 And so they're going to be revamping the defensive backfield.
17:05 Okay.
17:07 I think you're going to see immediate impact.
17:10 There's a lot of talented young players there.
17:13 A lot of talented young players there.
17:17 And it's going to be interesting to watch them continue to grow.
17:22 Corian Bennett, that's a young man who's got big star potential.
17:27 Big star.
17:28 Amik Robertson, he's a guy that has really good potential.
17:37 After Jack Jones, the best playmaker, they got a corner.
17:41 And I wouldn't be shocked if they picked a corner in this draft.
17:45 But Caldwell comes in and I think that's a really tremendous addition for the Raiders.
17:55 Now Max Crosby did not get defensive player of the year.
18:01 That is a crock.
18:03 Now had it gone to TJ Watt at Pittsburgh, I would have had no problem with that.
18:10 Miles Garrett's a very good player.
18:11 I'm not saying he's not.
18:14 But if you were putting together a Mount Rushmore of NFL players right now, TJ Watt and Max Crosby
18:21 are on there.
18:24 I think Patrick Mahomes is on there.
18:26 I think there are some other guys on there.
18:29 If you're putting together a Mount Rushmore of current defensive players, Garrett would
18:33 be on there.
18:34 I don't think he's on the Mount Rushmore, but I would have TJ and Max on there.
18:40 I would have, if Max would have lost to TJ Addison, yeah, I get it.
18:45 I can see that.
18:47 That's something I can wrap my, I can't wrap my mind around Miles Garrett over TJ Watt
18:55 and Max Crosby.
18:57 Give me a break.
19:03 Didn't make sense to me.
19:06 And so I'm going to give you my opinion when I get it.
19:09 And I'm not saying that because I cover the Raiders, because I just told you if TJ Watt
19:12 would have won, I would have said, yeah, okay, no problem with that whatsoever.
19:18 I got a problem with this.
19:19 And again, I think Garrett had a great year.
19:22 I think he had a great year.
19:26 It isn't because I dislike Miles Garrett.
19:30 I think he's a great player.
19:31 I'd love to see the Raiders add Miles Garrett.
19:35 I think he would make this defense exponentially better.
19:45 But over TJ Watt?
19:52 Over Max Crosby?
19:53 Come on now.
19:54 Now, so last night I was having dinner with a former NFL player and some friends.
20:04 And the subject of the NFL came up and about rigged games.
20:12 And none of us believe the players are involved in any of that.
20:17 And I don't believe that, by the way.
20:19 I do not believe that by any chance all referees are involved.
20:29 I don't think the game is rigged.
20:32 I'm just going to tell you that.
20:34 There are a lot of people that do.
20:36 And there are a lot of people.
20:37 I heard a stat that came from an NFL quarterback the other day that I'm not going to tell you
20:48 what it is.
20:49 I'm still trying to make sure and get it verified.
20:51 But if it's true, then I think it's another example of why you can make an argument that
20:57 people feel that way.
21:00 And the NFL has got to fix officiating.
21:04 They have to.
21:06 It's hurting the game.
21:10 Absolutely hurting the game.
21:13 And it's something that has to be addressed.
21:17 And I think that they will.
21:19 NFL comes out with their new Hall of Fame members.
21:24 No Raiders.
21:27 I'm still, I mean, Todd Christensen and others.
21:34 But I'm going to ramp up this year talking a lot about Todd Christensen.
21:39 And then there'll be others we talk about too.
21:41 But Todd Christensen is one that we just we got to talk about.
21:46 And I'm not saying there aren't others.
21:49 But disappointing.
21:53 Very disappointing.
21:54 I want to get into something that I find fascinating about the Super Bowl.
22:08 I've lived here for five years in Vegas, been here for five years.
22:14 And this city's had the draft, which I was told was probably the biggest event in Vegas
22:23 history.
22:26 Nothing compares.
22:28 Formula One, if you're not from here, Formula One, the people turned on it.
22:34 It was a disaster, in my opinion, for Clark County.
22:40 Just in my opinion.
22:42 I mean, there were so many local businesses that got cut off because they're closing streets
22:45 for long periods of time.
22:48 To me, I just thought it was an absolute disaster.
22:50 The city didn't need Formula One.
22:53 Formula One needed the city, in my opinion.
22:59 But I keep hearing from everybody in the city, this is going to be by far.
23:05 Hotel rooms are booked.
23:06 The place is crawling with people.
23:08 I heard a number tonight, or actually this afternoon, excuse me.
23:14 Well, I don't even know what time it is.
23:17 Thursday afternoon, that well over a million people, this person said as many as maybe
23:28 2.5 million people will be in town that aren't going to the game this weekend.
23:34 Vegas is always busy on Super Bowl weekend.
23:36 Then you had a Super Bowl and it's just astonishing.
23:40 Absolutely astonishing.
23:42 And electric environment.
23:46 Vegas is just the city to do everything great.
23:50 It's the city.
23:51 The stadium looks amazing.
23:55 Looking at the field the other day, it looked fantastic.
23:57 The stadium is ready to go.
24:01 I know it sucks that if you're a Raider fan, your team's not in there and it's your stadium.
24:09 A lot of people say, "I'm not going to watch."
24:11 Well, it's football.
24:12 I'm not going to watch.
24:13 It's our last game before we get into a long, long offseason wallowing in the desert, waiting
24:26 for a chance to get back to the good old days of watching the oblonged ellipsoid covered
24:33 in pigskin.
24:35 But watch it.
24:36 It's going to be fun, but the city's on fire.
24:38 Lastly, I want to read you a quick letter.
24:40 It comes to us from MO.
24:41 I'm just going to use initials.
24:44 I thought you people would find this interesting.
24:50 I greatly appreciate all of you.
24:53 I greatly appreciate all of you.
24:56 And I told you quite a while ago, I read a newspaper article that said a huge number
25:01 of Americans, I don't remember if it was 70%, 90% or somewhere in the middle, but it was
25:05 very high, that said they felt like if they died tomorrow, no one would care.
25:10 They didn't feel appreciated.
25:12 And so a while ago, I just took a minute in one of my podcasts and said, I wanted you
25:16 people to know if you're one of that percentage that I care about you.
25:21 And I got a letter from MO I want to read to you.
25:24 Dear Hondo, I'm a devout Raider fan.
25:29 Several weeks ago, you told us about reading a newspaper article and you wanted us to know
25:36 that you appreciated us.
25:38 I do feel appreciated by my family.
25:41 But there are times I feel extremely underappreciated at work.
25:46 And to be very honest with you, no one in my company who works under my boss likes
25:53 him.
25:55 Okay.
25:57 I just want you to know, I thought about what you said.
26:03 And I walked up to him and said, I just want you to know, I recently heard my favorite
26:09 Raider podcaster talk about people not feeling like they matter.
26:18 I want you to know, I'm not trying to butter you up.
26:21 I want nothing from you.
26:24 But I was wondering today, if you knew that people do care and that you matter.
26:31 And if you don't, I just want you to know, I do.
26:35 Hondo, I've applied for several promotions.
26:40 Never get it.
26:41 Anytime there's promotions, they always hire outside the company.
26:45 I wanted nothing from him.
26:48 And in the last several weeks, since I told him that, he has repeatedly come up and just
26:54 talked to me.
26:55 I was kind, but I don't really like him.
26:58 So it wasn't like it was a long conversation.
27:01 Yesterday, he called me in his office and said to me, I want you to know, I was one
27:10 of those people.
27:12 My bosses have been very hard on me.
27:16 And I know I've been hard on all of you.
27:20 And I really, literally felt like I didn't matter to anyone.
27:26 I really appreciate what you said to me.
27:29 I know you didn't do it for this, but I want to offer you a promotion.
27:36 I want to be a better boss.
27:38 I want to be more like you.
27:44 And that's some MO.
27:46 So I just want you to know.
27:48 You have a lot of places you can go for podcasts.
27:53 I appreciate that you come here.
27:56 I appreciate that you like and subscribe and share the stuff and you read it.
28:00 But I literally just want to remind you, you matter to me.
28:06 An MO just took a chance and just told somebody in his life who's really been a burr under
28:13 his saddle.
28:15 If you've never ridden a horse, that's not a good thing.
28:20 And he didn't do it.
28:21 You don't do nice things with the hope of reciprocation, but he did it.
28:27 So take a second, find somebody in your life today.
28:32 Maybe you're going to walk into a gas station and see some idiot screaming at the lady behind
28:36 the counter because of gas prices, like she has anything to do with it.
28:40 But just take a chance, Raider Nation.
28:43 Just let somebody know that they matter to you.
28:48 So that's all.
28:52 You matter to me.
28:53 I appreciate you.
28:54 Remember, follow me on IG when you go to Hondo SR, Twitter by X, formerly known as Twitter
29:00 @HondoCarpenter, si.com/NFL/Raiders.
29:07 Read all of our stories, read that story about AP and people saying he had a two-year deal.
29:15 He does not.
29:17 And click on the newsletter.
29:18 Never miss another big story again of ours.
29:20 We appreciate you.
29:22 Just want you to know it.
29:23 Want you to know that you matter.
29:25 You guys are some of the best people in the whole world.
29:27 It's a pleasure to serve you.
29:29 Thank you for letting me be your beat writer.
29:33 Have a great day.
29:34 God bless you, everybody.
29:35 I'll see you again tomorrow.