Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast covers many subjects on your Silver and Black.
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is your old pal Uncle Hondo from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas
00:07 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:08 Man, am I excited to be with you today.
00:12 Happy Saturday.
00:13 We are finally one day away from getting this game underway.
00:16 It has been a long week.
00:18 Most Super Bowls are very long.
00:21 This one has been longer because when you're in your city, everybody's coming in to see
00:27 you.
00:28 So, I have been tour guide, I have been, not really haven't toured anywhere, but you get
00:33 my point.
00:34 Been all over the place.
00:35 And it's been a great week.
00:37 And I'll tell you, one of my favorite humanoids is that guy right there.
00:44 The one and only.
00:45 I am your Las Vegas Raiders beat writer.
00:47 He's my assistant beat writer.
00:48 This guy's a great writer, prolific writer, and one of the best, Ezekiel Trezevant.
00:54 How you doing, Z?
00:55 Doing well, Hondo.
00:56 How about yourself?
00:57 All right.
00:58 Has it not been a crazy week in Vegas?
01:00 Listen, it has been a week in Las Vegas for sure.
01:04 And I like you.
01:05 I'm ready for the game.
01:07 Let's just get it over with, right?
01:09 Yes, sir.
01:10 So, let's get right to cutting wood.
01:14 Get to a very important issue.
01:18 As you know, yesterday, I debunked the rumors about people saying, you know, well, AP wasn't
01:25 really Mark's choice.
01:26 That's why he got a two-year deal.
01:28 I was stunned when I started seeing that.
01:30 It came out right after Cliff Kingsbury went to the commanders and it said, you know, hey,
01:38 it's because AP got a two-year deal.
01:40 And I just blew my mind.
01:42 Now, the Raiders, I want everyone to understand, I talked about it yesterday, but in case they
01:45 didn't catch yesterday's program, and Zeke, you know this, they don't comment on coaching
01:49 contracts.
01:51 And that's not because it's AP.
01:52 They don't do it.
01:53 So, we're taking the Raiders out of this.
01:55 This isn't their fault.
01:58 But after Cliff turned it down and goes, oh, see, AP only got a two-year deal.
02:03 They're not willing to give his assistants more of it.
02:05 Everyone's like, come on now.
02:07 Come on.
02:08 And so, because of the Raiders' policy, I didn't ask AP.
02:13 I wasn't going to put him in a bad spot.
02:15 So going and talking to people around the league, we debunked the two-year deal, which
02:19 is good.
02:20 We got rid of it.
02:21 Zeke, I'm curious about something.
02:23 I can't fathom sometimes the way people are, but when people start spreading those kind
02:32 of rumors, it makes AP look bad.
02:37 Like he was just so desperate for a job, he would have jumped.
02:40 He would have had his pick.
02:42 There were other head coaching jobs that he was in on, could have had.
02:47 So he could have been a head coach, potentially somewhere else.
02:49 We don't know that, but could have.
02:51 DC jobs, I'm 100% convinced he would have got the New York Giants job.
02:56 This guy had jobs waiting for him and upgrades and raises if he had wanted to go somewhere
03:01 else.
03:02 It disrespects him, but also it disrespects the organization.
03:06 Like, oh, okay, they're just going to throw a two-year deal at the guy's feet.
03:12 Sometimes people need to tap the brakes with stuff they read on the internet.
03:15 True or false?
03:16 100%.
03:17 I feel like if you and I had talked about this probably a couple of weeks ago, maybe
03:22 even a couple of months ago on the podcast, we had talked about what kind of contract
03:26 we thought AP should have gotten.
03:28 And if I'm not mistaken, I think we said somewhere between a three and a five-year deal.
03:31 So for him to get that two years is right on the line of what we thought he was going
03:36 to get anyway.
03:37 So I think to your point, a lot of people, especially in this day and age, just kind
03:40 of like to dig for something.
03:41 They like to make something that may or may not even have been there in the first place.
03:46 And I think there was some feelings about AP maybe getting the job, and then when he
03:50 got the job, it's like, okay, let's see how we can kind of pick a way at it.
03:53 I also agree with you in terms of AP.
03:56 Obviously he interviewed with a lot of other teams or a few other teams in terms of HC
04:00 positions.
04:01 But at the same time, he also could have gotten, like you said, for sure that New York Giants
04:05 DC job.
04:06 So AP had a lot of other places he could have gone as well, but he stayed in Las Vegas because
04:10 it is a good fit.
04:11 So whether it's two years, three years, four years, whatever it may have been, I think
04:15 he made the right decision.
04:16 I think the Raiders made the right decision.
04:17 Yeah.
04:18 I even had one buddy who works for an NFL team ask me, "Hey, there's no chance they're
04:23 going to let him get by, are they?"
04:25 I go, "I don't think so."
04:27 He goes, "If you get any wind of it, I need you to call me right away."
04:31 I said, "Okay."
04:32 So I know there was a lot of interest there.
04:35 All right, let's go to a couple other ones.
04:38 I had the chance on Thursday to interview Devontae Adams, got his first public comments
04:47 on Getzey.
04:48 I know you saw it.
04:50 He was so excited when he talked about running the West Coast offense.
04:55 It's what he's familiar with.
04:57 I had a lot of people like, "What?
05:00 Wait a minute, I thought we were running the Air Raid," which I told people at the time
05:05 they weren't going to run Air Raid.
05:07 The West Coast offense does have an element of going down the field in it.
05:11 What did you think of Devontae's comments?
05:14 Were you surprised?
05:15 I was not because I had told everybody he had signed off on Getzey.
05:20 They had went to him and said, "Hey, what do you think of this?"
05:23 I was not surprised at his enthusiasm.
05:25 I don't think a lot of people were.
05:27 Were you?
05:28 No, not at all.
05:29 I think we had all heard how Getzey had interviewed really well in terms of the interview process,
05:35 even when Cliff had been selected.
05:38 No surprise that Getzey ended up getting it once Cliff went elsewhere.
05:41 At the same time, when you look into it, if there's anybody on the offense that was going
05:47 to be excited, in my opinion, it was going to be Devontae Adams.
05:50 You just go look back at the track record of those two together.
05:55 A lot of the years in Green Bay, Devontae and Getzey were together a decent amount of
05:59 those years.
06:00 When I looked through it, that was the main person.
06:03 I'm like, "Devontae is going to be happy," of all people.
06:06 That doesn't mean Devontae is going to go for 150 yards every game, but at the end of
06:10 the day, now you have an OC in there that knows how to work with Devontae, that knows
06:15 how to use him, basically.
06:17 I'm happy for Devontae.
06:18 I know he's happy, and now it's time to get to work.
06:21 Totally time to get to work.
06:22 All right, I want to talk just about a couple more players, then I want to turn to some
06:26 other issues that I want you and Ida and I want your input on.
06:31 Had some time with Max Crosby and had a really good visit with him.
06:39 His excitement over Getzey, but he said something that I thought was fascinating.
06:45 You and I were in the building all the time.
06:48 He talked about before when Luke was just interviewing for the job, he saw him and grabbed
06:53 him.
06:54 They went in the cafeteria, and I think it was breakfast.
06:56 It could have been lunch, but they go and sit down and have a breakfast.
06:59 He's picking his mind.
07:00 I mean, he's asking him, "What's your stop?"
07:03 He did.
07:04 Totally quintessential Max Crosby, but people don't understand the impact of leadership
07:11 he has on this team, do they?
07:14 No, not at all.
07:15 I think that's another example of just how much of a leader Max is.
07:19 You kind of speak of how he and Getzey kind of had those conversations.
07:23 Think about how forward-thinking a defensive player like Crosby has to be to go take the
07:28 team's brand new OC aside and say, "Hey, let's talk X's and O's."
07:33 That's next level stuff when the defensive guys start talking to the offensive guys.
07:36 Now he can understand a little bit better of how to defend certain things defensively.
07:41 Max, I mean, there's not enough words to explain how much of the leader, not a leader, how
07:46 much of the leader he is of that defense.
07:50 All the praise he gets, he definitely deserves.
07:54 There's just no words, man.
07:55 Max jumps off the screen and practice on the game, and he does what he's supposed to do.
08:00 Max is definitely a leader on the team.
08:02 Yeah, he really is.
08:05 To me, and I think you and I would agree, this is no disrespect of Devontae Adams.
08:11 He is the second most important person on this team.
08:14 That's a huge place to be, but it's clearly Max's team.
08:16 Would you agree with that, or do you think I'm being disrespectful?
08:19 Yeah, 100%.
08:20 I think Devontae would probably agree with that as well.
08:23 There's no shame in that, right?
08:26 One's going to be one, and the other's one A, or one A, one B, if you will.
08:29 I think Devontae would agree with that as well.
08:31 When I think, and I think what most people think of the Las Vegas Raiders, Max Crosby
08:35 is the first person that comes to mind, for sure.
08:38 By the way, your Air Force Ones are backordered, but you're supposed to have them, I think
08:43 it's the first week of March.
08:45 Okay, yeah, that's good.
08:46 I'm looking forward to it.
08:49 You're welcome, brother.
08:50 All right.
08:51 Thank you, sir.
08:52 I want to go to a different angle that I think is really important that I want you and I
08:58 to look at today.
09:01 This team, Max, by the way, I got to share this with you.
09:05 I learned a new term, and I got it from Max, that I now have to start chopping it up.
09:12 Hey, you got that from Max?
09:14 I said it yesterday on the podcast for the first time, so this is my buddy, Zeke Trezivan.
09:21 We're chopping it up today.
09:22 We're chopping it up.
09:23 Hey, let's go make a progress all day, every day here.
09:27 You know what that means.
09:28 100%.
09:29 Right.
09:30 So, for everybody tuning in who doesn't know what it means, it literally means talking.
09:36 Like, you could say, "Chewing the cud, shooting the crap, shooting the breeze," for us older
09:43 folks.
09:44 There you go.
09:45 But for Zeke and younger, here we go, just chopping it up.
09:47 Just chopping it up.
09:48 That's literally the best way to explain it.
09:49 What can I do?
09:50 I'm going to go back to my phone.
09:51 Oh, yeah, okay.
09:52 So, we're chopping it up with Zeke Trezivan this morning, or whatever you're watching,
09:57 it could be even.
09:58 So, a lot of things going on, a lot of things.
10:05 And there's a lot of talk about Raiders moving up in the draft.
10:10 I'm sorry, I don't see them moving up for Caleb.
10:13 I don't think that's happening.
10:16 The cost is too high.
10:18 I don't see them moving up for Drake.
10:21 I think the cost will be too high.
10:23 Hondo opinion, I don't see moving up for Jaden, although they like him.
10:30 Cost is going to be too high.
10:32 I think sometimes, I want to go back and say this, Zeke, through this evaluation process
10:40 and pro days, if they find out we think this guy is a generational talent, I think the
10:49 Raiders will move up.
10:51 At this point, though, I'm seeing a lot of rumors, "Oh, they're moving up."
10:55 No.
10:56 I mean, Telesco has said, and others have told me, they have not made any decision yet.
11:01 So, do I think they could?
11:02 Yeah, if they get convinced that we're willing to risk our careers on somebody.
11:07 But Telesco and AP know if we move up, he has to be him or we're out of jobs.
11:18 At this point, if I'm just saying today, which I reserve the right to change my opinion,
11:24 I don't think they move up that high.
11:26 What do you think, Zeke?
11:27 Yeah, I agree with you.
11:28 I think the first two are a foregone conclusion.
11:32 I think there's almost no way that they trade up for Caleb or for May.
11:37 And then when you have Jaden Daniels there, if he were to maybe fall, I guess, maybe to
11:41 the 8 to 10 range, I think that there's a possibility.
11:44 How big or small that possibility is, I'm not sure.
11:47 But I think if he were to fall that area, okay, maybe jumping from 13 to 10 or so maybe
11:51 isn't that big of a deal.
11:52 So small possibility.
11:54 But I think if you look at Telesco's track record, I really don't see him trading up,
11:59 especially not year one in terms of being in Las Vegas.
12:02 I just don't see him making such a high-risk move.
12:05 So is there a chance that I think that he can move up 8, 9, 10?
12:08 Possibly.
12:09 Probably not likely, though, in my opinion.
12:11 Yeah, and I was talking to a scout.
12:14 By the way, I'm going to tell you something here in a minute we've not discussed.
12:16 But I was talking to a scout, actually higher than a scout, an executive the other day who
12:23 told me, he goes, "I fully expect J.J. McCarthy to get up into the first round, way up into
12:30 the first round."
12:31 And I was like, "That was..." and again, if you could pick one quarterback in this
12:36 draft that you would like to see the Raiders get, and maybe it's some guy in the second
12:43 round that you really believe in or a guy in the first round, who's the guy that Ezekiel
12:47 Trezvant, if I put the Tom Telesco GM hat on your head, are you moving up?
12:52 Are you staying put?
12:53 Are you trading down?
12:54 Who are you going after, Zeke?
12:56 So normally I'm a big fan of those blockbuster trades or draft day and just pull the trigger.
13:01 I'm that guy.
13:02 I'm not going to lie.
13:04 But this time, just looking in terms of where the Raiders are, if they were to move up,
13:08 I do think Jaden Daniels, obviously with his connection to AP, would be that person that
13:12 they moved up to or for without trading the farm.
13:15 But if they stayed put and they decided to go quarterback, in my opinion, I think Bo
13:18 Nicks might need to be that guy, somebody they look at.
13:21 He has that prototypical size in terms of NFL quarterbacks.
13:24 He's got a lot of experience in college as well.
13:27 So if they were to make that pick in terms of a quarterback using that number 13 pick,
13:32 that would be my guy.
13:33 Obviously, JJ McCarthy is going to be talked about at that range as well.
13:37 But if you ask me, I think Bo Nicks would be that person or Penix from Washington.
13:43 One of those two at 13, I think would be a good range or a good pick for both of those
13:48 quarterbacks.
13:49 So those would be my two guys I would take if I were the Raiders at 13.
13:52 So you say Penix or Nicks?
13:55 You said Penix or Nicks?
13:56 Yes, sir.
13:57 Okay, now I want to talk about that because that's what you and I do for a living.
14:03 I told you I had something I wanted to tell you from that executive I talked to the other
14:06 day who told me Bo Nicks was terrible last week.
14:11 Really terrible.
14:12 Terrible.
14:13 He goes, you know, great player.
14:16 He makes plays.
14:17 We always thought accuracy issues would plague him and he said he was terrible.
14:23 In fact, he said terrible.
14:26 And Penix is a guy that plays fantastic, but he's been hurt all the time.
14:31 It's like Jimmy Garoppolo.
14:32 I mean, how do you invest?
14:35 I'm going to ask you because I trust you.
14:36 I respect your opinion.
14:39 If you're picking in the first round, you have to eliminate as much risk as possible.
14:44 I love Penix.
14:46 I do.
14:47 Great kid.
14:48 I interviewed him several times in Indiana.
14:50 Not several, but a few.
14:52 Great kid.
14:53 I like him.
14:54 But how do you justify with that injury history?
14:56 Yeah.
14:57 Yeah.
14:58 And listen, that was always my personal knock on him as well.
15:03 And you know, my small minor ties, you know, to and through with him.
15:08 So his injury history definitely came to mind.
15:10 But I just felt like this last year that he had in college may have been enough to kind
15:15 of, you know, I don't want to say bypass the injury history because it's a it's a pretty
15:19 relatively deep history in terms of injuries for him.
15:21 I thought this last year he had showed that he had the ability to make it through the
15:25 majority of the season without getting hurt.
15:28 Also I felt like for him in terms of his first year with the Raiders, he wouldn't necessarily
15:33 have to be the starter.
15:34 I would imagine him in a competition with Aiden O'Connell.
15:38 So that's kind of how I figured.
15:39 And I would, in my opinion, if it was those two competing, I would pick Aiden O'Connell
15:43 to, you know, win the job at that time.
15:45 So I figured he'd have another year, another season to kind of grow, learn in terms of
15:48 how things work in the NFL, get his body right, NFL training, NFL weight room, kind of thing
15:52 like that and go from there.
15:54 But that injury history for Michael is definitely pretty daunting.
15:57 And any team that drafts him has to take that into consideration, no doubt.
16:02 All right.
16:03 If you're Aiden O'Connell and you listen to AP, now I think you already knew it, but you
16:08 listen not to AP, to Devante talking about the West Coast.
16:12 Are you the happiest man in the world today?
16:17 You have to be, in my opinion, right?
16:20 Or at least one of the happiest people in the world, right?
16:22 I think Aiden, I think he's chomping at the bit, to be honest with you.
16:26 If you ask me my opinion of where Aiden is right now, just from being around him all
16:30 season, he's a quiet dude, polite guy, very nice guy.
16:34 But that man's a competitor.
16:35 And just like we sit here and we see all the draft mock or the mock drafts and trade scenarios
16:40 of quarterback this, quarterback that, these guys say they don't read the press coverage,
16:44 but that's a lie.
16:45 They definitely read it.
16:46 So I think Aiden is at home.
16:48 I think he's motivated.
16:49 I think he's ready to go.
16:50 I think Getty's going to be probably the best offensive coordinator he's had since he's
16:56 been in the league.
16:57 So I definitely think O'Connell's excited, but I think he's motivated.
17:01 And I think next season is going to be a good one for him.
17:03 Yeah, I agree with you.
17:05 All right.
17:06 I got to ask you this question because I think it's pretty funny.
17:10 If you are Tom Telesco and you're sitting there with the 13th pick, now I asked you
17:17 what you would do if you wanted a quarterback, but I want to remove that caveat.
17:21 If I'm Telesco, I'm sitting there and if JJ McCarthy's off the board and Jaden Daniels
17:29 are off the board and Drake May is off the board, I'm sitting there saying, all right,
17:36 I hope somebody wants to move up.
17:41 I hope Zeke Trezevant's a general manager in another team and he wants to move up to
17:45 get ball or pennys.
17:48 And I'm trying to trade that to accumulate even more picks.
17:52 If I can't, I'm taking a Latham.
17:58 Again, I'm going to take the Alabama corner.
18:04 I'm looking at somebody like that if I can.
18:06 But my first thing is, hey, let's trade the picks, this and add some more picks here.
18:11 If you're Tom Telesco, drum roll, what are you doing, Zeke?
18:17 So and again, you took away the caveat in terms of the quarterback caveat.
18:21 I do think I've seen that suggestion as well that they trade down, trade back.
18:27 That's a good idea.
18:28 Now, in my opinion, I wouldn't want them to trade too, too far back.
18:31 We're at 13, maybe trade back to, in my opinion, maybe 15, 20, depending on what kind of packages
18:36 you can get.
18:38 I think that's more of a move that a first year general manager would make in Telesco's
18:43 shoes is, hey, let me get more picks just so we can see what else we can do.
18:47 Now, obviously, those picks are going to be later rounds, mid rounds, but it's still draft
18:50 capital that you can use to help fill some holes on a team that really doesn't have a
18:54 whole lot of holes on it in terms of the roster.
18:57 So I definitely think, depending on what he gets offered, Telesco would definitely consider
19:01 trading back.
19:02 But just in my opinion, don't trade too, too far back because you still want to get a top
19:05 talent in the first round.
19:08 I agree with you.
19:09 You and I are on the same page.
19:10 I want to get to Antonio Pierce for a minute.
19:13 You and I like him personally, and you and I like him as a coach.
19:19 I mean, this is what we've talked about privately, but for those who aren't part of our private
19:23 conversations, am I being accurate?
19:25 100% accurate.
19:27 And that's what we've said the whole time, privately and publicly as well.
19:32 Yes, sir.
19:33 A thousand percent.
19:34 Okay.
19:35 There is a lot of disrespect for him.
19:39 And I was asked last night, and I think it's fair that you and I talk about it.
19:45 Do you think it's because he's a black coach?
19:48 And I said, no, I don't think it's because he's black.
19:51 I think it's because he's different.
19:53 And what I mean by that is, you know, he shows up in his Air Force ones.
19:59 He's calling Raiders.
20:02 You know, he's not afraid.
20:03 Like someone asked him, what do you think about the Chiefs and the 49ers being in your
20:06 building?
20:07 And he goes, hey, you're borrowing it.
20:10 Play the game and get the hell out.
20:12 I mean, I don't think it has anything to do with, let's be honest.
20:15 There are some people that are going to hate anyone.
20:18 There are some people that are going to hate people because they're white.
20:20 Some people hate people because they're black, brown, whatever.
20:23 So we're eliminating the moronic, stupid people.
20:28 Because if you don't like somebody just because of their color, you're a moron.
20:30 We're just throwing that out.
20:31 But I do think he's different now.
20:35 And he understands, all right, this is my shot.
20:39 I'm going to be my guy.
20:41 So for example, he jumps on Radio Row.
20:45 He's talking about Getzey.
20:47 So the Raiders have to send a release.
20:49 I mean, he just, he isn't handled.
20:53 He tells him what he's going to do.
20:56 He beats to his own drum.
20:59 Dead gummit.
21:00 I love it.
21:01 Tell me what you think, Zeke.
21:04 So I think with AP, I think he's so authentically himself that that is what bugs people.
21:10 And I think when somebody in a position like AP who comes from the background that AP comes
21:15 from, regardless of what color you are, when they still beat to their own drum and they
21:18 still stay authentically themselves, to me, it really doesn't matter what color you are.
21:22 I think that bugs a lot of people, that he never changed.
21:24 He could have been purple, but the fact that he never changed, the fact that he never assimilated,
21:28 the fact that he stayed himself through and through, I think that bugs a lot of people
21:31 who wish that they could stay themselves in every situation.
21:34 So also this, though, more so than the color of his skin, more so than him being authentically
21:39 himself, I think Antonio Pierce is authentically Raiders.
21:43 And I think that bugs the hell out of a lot of people.
21:46 That's where I was going next.
21:48 I think it's a black thing, but it's a silver and black thing.
21:51 There you go.
21:52 There you go.
21:53 I think that's what bugs people.
21:54 And they're like, ah, man, like there's one thing they have to watch the Raiders on, you
21:57 know, on the field on Sunday here and there.
21:59 But everywhere the head coach goes, you know who he's the coach of.
22:02 Hell, even if he wasn't the coach of the Raiders, you would think he's probably the coach of
22:05 the Raiders because of how he carries himself.
22:07 So I think that's what bugs people more than anything.
22:10 And I think it's an acquired taste because you're used to the head coach, you know, filtering
22:14 his words, not being honest, wearing suits, definitely not wearing black Air Force Ones,
22:19 you know, saying all the right words at the right time and kind of giving you, you know,
22:23 the pity pad answers, if you will.
22:24 But AP is himself.
22:25 He's always honest and he keeps it real.
22:27 So I think a lot of the reasons why the players like him is going to be some of the reason
22:31 why other people who don't play for him and don't play with him don't like him.
22:35 So I think that's what it is for him.
22:37 I got to tell you, one of the players, Zeke and I were in the locker room one time and
22:41 said it best.
22:43 This is a player who is completely opposite of AP.
22:46 He's country, all of it.
22:48 He goes, I just love the guy.
22:51 He doesn't want you to be him.
22:53 He wants you to be you.
22:55 I love it.
22:56 All right, I'm going to throw this out to you.
22:57 See, the other night he's at this dress up event.
23:01 Now he's built, he looks like he could still play linebacker today.
23:06 You know that, but I'm telling the fans that.
23:10 Black t-shirt, black pants, black sport coat.
23:16 He just exudes cool.
23:19 I'm sorry, Zeke, you're my friend, but I could never look cool.
23:25 It just isn't in my DNA.
23:26 I mean, I'm not ashamed of that.
23:28 It's just the truth.
23:29 Would you not agree?
23:30 No, listen, if you're asking me if I agree that you could never look cool, no, sir, I
23:35 disagree with you on that.
23:36 I, listen, I've seen you wear more Air Force Ones and more Jordans than most people.
23:41 So you're a cool guy in my book.
23:43 I'm not sure if you're just talking about that.
23:46 I could not wear a t-shirt and a suit coat.
23:49 And here he is at this beautiful event.
23:52 And he just looked, oh God, that's the Raiders coach.
23:56 Literally.
23:57 All right, let's get serious though, because we're having a lot of fun, but it's fun talking
24:03 Raiders and I love it and I appreciate it.
24:06 So Monday night, been to every game at Allegiant that the Raiders have played.
24:13 I've been in the locker room, what, 50 times?
24:17 And when I walked by that locker and it's decorated Chiefs, I had to take a double take.
24:27 Now I'm not a fan, so it didn't offend me.
24:29 And I expected one of the teams to be using the locker room.
24:35 But I was like, and so I take a picture, tweet a picture of it.
24:43 Zeke, not one thing that I have ever done in my career, ever, has ever gotten me more
24:52 hate than that.
24:55 You're lying.
24:56 They're in the UNLV locker room.
24:58 And I'm like, I said to one person, I think it was only one.
25:01 And I just turned my phone off because you've taught me, Hondo.
25:05 Zeke always tells me, tell them what you tell me.
25:07 Hey, listen, A, in not so many words, stay away from your phone.
25:11 Put your phone down, get off your phone.
25:15 Don't read it.
25:16 Just stay away.
25:17 He's like, Hondo, Hondo, please.
25:18 He literally said to me one time, I'm begging you.
25:21 I'm begging you, buddy.
25:23 Don't read the comments.
25:26 You're lying.
25:27 You're making it up.
25:28 They would never put their, I mean, I had one person threaten me.
25:35 When you saw Chiefs on the Raider locker room, now you're a fan.
25:45 It was a double take for me, and I'm not a fan.
25:49 Tell me what went through the mind of Zeke Trezevant.
25:53 I mean, literally, double take is the most polite or the politest way you can put that,
25:57 right?
25:58 You're kind of walking by and you're like, wait, are we saying what we're saying?
26:01 It's definitely something that you're never going to forget, right?
26:06 It's probably never going to happen again, right?
26:07 It works out like this.
26:08 But at the same time, you got to think in terms of the threats you got.
26:12 It was either going to be, depending on how you looked at it, one of the two teams are
26:15 probably going to be there, right?
26:16 So it's a matter of did you want the Chiefs, did you want the 49ers?
26:19 One way or the other, that's how it was going to work out.
26:20 So definitely a little weird to see, but at the same time, that's what happens when you
26:26 make it to the Super Bowl.
26:27 That's just part of the game.
26:28 So you got to get used to certain sights that you're not used to seeing.
26:32 And I made the comment, if you don't like other teams in your locker room, there's a
26:37 great way to fix it.
26:38 Yeah.
26:39 Yeah.
26:40 Let's get to it.
26:42 All right.
26:43 Zeke, this is important to me.
26:47 Do you think, because I was asked this several times this week, do you think the addition
26:52 of Luke Getty improves the chances of Josh Jacobs coming back?
27:01 Well, I think it improves the chances of Josh Jacobs coming back.
27:07 Off the top of my head, if the word "improves" is what it makes me say, I don't think it
27:11 necessarily improves it much.
27:14 I don't think it hurts his chances either, but I don't think it's going to necessarily
27:17 move the needle there.
27:19 Could it?
27:20 Very much so.
27:21 Off the top of my head, I don't think it necessarily improves those chances per se.
27:24 No, sir.
27:25 Yeah, you and I are on the same page.
27:26 And we don't talk before the podcast.
27:28 I mean, we talk, but we don't discuss what we're going to talk about because I want it
27:32 to be a free exchange.
27:33 I totally agree with you.
27:34 I think it all is going to come down to money.
27:36 I think he will take less money to be here.
27:40 But it's all going to come down to money.
27:42 I think that's very, very fascinating.
27:43 All right.
27:44 Let's turn to the big game.
27:49 Here's how I'm breaking it down.
27:52 As you know, beginning of the year, I predicted the Chiefs to be here.
27:57 You may remember I took a lot of grief in preseason when there was joint practices talking
28:03 about how the Raiders beat a team that many people feel like is a Super Bowl contender.
28:11 I said it would be Eagles or 49ers, depending on what they did with Purdy.
28:15 They stuck with Purdy, which I thought they should.
28:17 They're here.
28:19 The last two weeks, I have picked against the Chiefs because they have not looked good
28:24 this year, even though I predicted them to win the Super Bowl.
28:29 I'm going to go back to what I predicted at the beginning.
28:33 To be the man, you got to beat the man, in the words of the prophet Ric Flair.
28:38 I want San Francisco to win.
28:40 I have more friends and people in that organization than I do the Chiefs, although I have them
28:44 in both.
28:46 I'm going to ride with the Chiefs, because that's what I predicted, but I would not be
28:52 upset with a San Francisco win.
28:54 Your thoughts?
28:58 For me, it's hard to bet against Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl after having two weeks off.
29:07 I can't bet against that.
29:08 To your point, if the 49ers win, none of us are going to be surprised.
29:12 In terms of who I think is going to win, I'm not going to.
29:15 The only time I bet against Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl was when he was playing
29:18 Tom Brady.
29:19 That's the only time.
29:20 Other than that, like you said, you have to beat that man in the Super Bowl before I'll
29:24 ever bet against him again.
29:27 On this one for me, and to further that, Hondo, throw all the stats out the window.
29:31 Throw everything out the window.
29:33 For me, throw it out the window.
29:34 I think Patrick Mahomes is going to take it home.
29:36 I do, until we see otherwise.
29:39 At the same time, Sanford has a great team, a great coaching staff, and then also a great
29:44 defense as well.
29:45 It could go either way, but if you ask me, I think Patrick and the Chiefs take it.
29:51 Score?
29:52 Ooh, score.
29:55 Give me 31 Chiefs, 24 49ers.
30:03 I don't think there's a rat's chance in Hades that they score 31 on the San Francisco defense.
30:11 I'm just chopping it up and keeping it 100.
30:13 I know.
30:14 I'm thinking Chiefs, they're going to light it up.
30:18 We'll see.
30:19 All right.
30:20 One last thing I had to end on this.
30:23 Going from Josh McDaniels, who is completely buttoned up, he is, if Bill Belichick is the
30:29 king of saying nothing, I think Josh did say a lot, but it just took him a long way to
30:36 get there, and he was very careful how he said it.
30:41 When you go to AP, you ask him a question, hold on, just hold on, because he's going
30:49 to give you an answer.
30:53 There is a person in your life who gravely underestimated you, and next year, you're
31:00 going to have an opportunity to be in the presence of this person, and we'll share more
31:09 about it with Raynard.
31:12 So Zeke Trezeban, is it going to bring a shock to the face of that man next year when you
31:22 walk into that press?
31:25 To the extent that AP brings shock to people who are used to Josh McDaniels.
31:32 Listen, I just want you to know, what you're seeing right now is you see tears about to
31:39 roll from my eyes, A, because I'm laughing so hard at your question.
31:43 Literally you see the tears right here, like I'm literally tearing up right now.
31:46 The quick answer for you is yes, and I can't wait for that moment, selfishly for myself,
31:51 obviously, but the answer is so much yes that the shock is going to be there for him, but
31:56 I can't wait for that moment for you, for you to see the shock on that person's face.
32:00 I listen, I can't wait.
32:04 That's all I'm going to say.
32:05 Respectfully, I cannot wait.
32:06 Yes, sir.
32:07 The shock is going to be similar to the AP Josh McDaniels difference, 100%.
32:11 It's going to be monumental.
32:12 Awesome.
32:13 All right.
32:14 So next week, we're going to begin to look at free agents, and we're going to begin to
32:19 talk about that with Zeke next week.
32:21 So you don't want to miss that conversation.
32:23 Zeke, tell us, what are some stories you got coming this weekend?
32:27 Obviously, today's Saturday, tomorrow's Sunday game day.
32:30 What do you got coming?
32:33 So for me this week, I'm going to try to focus a little bit more on the offense.
32:37 In my opinion, in terms of the Raiders' defense, I don't think necessarily that they're set,
32:41 but I think they're more set than the offensive side of the ball is, in my opinion.
32:44 So I think most of us would agree on that.
32:46 So I think what I'm going to do is try to focus on some of the smaller points in terms
32:50 of the offense that we may have overlooked this season and this offseason so far.
32:54 So I think there's some interesting points there because there could be a lot of new
32:57 faces on the offense.
32:58 So I'm going to dive into that some next week for sure.
33:02 It's going to be fascinating, isn't it, my friend?
33:05 Yes, sir.
33:06 All right.
33:07 Zeke Trezevant, making people double take like Antonio Pierce, the one and only.
33:13 Hey, everybody, remember you can follow me on IG @HondoSR.
33:17 You can follow me on Twitter, @X, formerly known as Twitter, @HondoCarpenter.
33:22 Check us out, si.com/NFL/Raiders.
33:27 Check out all of our stories.
33:29 Also you can go click on the newsletter in the upper right-hand corner.
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33:40 information.
33:41 Go check it out.
33:42 Zeke, you're the best.
33:43 Stay on the line.
33:44 I need to talk with you.
33:45 Here you go, the great Zeke Trezevant.
33:46 Have a great weekend, everybody.