‘I’m Fired Up To See What Luke Getsy Can Do with Brock Bowers’: Rhett Lewis on the Raiders Offense

and man we are so excited to be joined by friend of the program you see him on NFL Network you see him on Big 10 Network and perhaps most importantly you see and hear him on the Raiders NFL draft podcast Shameless plug alert our man Rett Lewis Rett dude it is so good to see you it's so good to catch up with you when we're not quite yet looking ahead to the draft but how the heck are you sir uh man it's awesome always great to catch up with my silver and black friends and uh and all of my friends at Raider Nation um yeah it's uh it's kind of an interesting time um you know I've been up on Thursday nights have been doing the NFL network coverage uh preh half and postgame for our live uh preseason games and I've been up there with Daniel Jeremiah and of course our very own Bucky Brooks um and so like we all kind of look at each other we're like this is like this is like the draft uh coming like everything that we talked about for five months kind of starting to come to fruition now in actual game form right because all these rookies all these young players that we've talked about um you know exhaustingly during the draft process now we get to see what it actually looks like and you know how right we were on all these guys I am gonna ask you about one of our young guys in a second but uh you know I was talking to you this week and and obviously the big news surrounding the silver and black Garder mchu is qb1 and I'm just kind of curious right from a national perspective and and you and our friends at the network do such a good job of kind of zooming out in the best way and kind of putting us in the puzzle of the 32 teams like when you look at at at minum Mania now officially sending upon Las Vegas like were you surprised that AP ultimately went with him as the guy to start the season no I'm not um and I I think the most important thing to understand here is that this doesn't have to be like the death nail on Aiden o connell's future in Las Vegas either right I mean like I think we gotta we gotta like take into context that he is still a young player that you know yeah he went 500 into starts last year um but there's still room for him to grow and I think being around guard is going to continue that opportunity for him to grow now the thing about Gardner is just an absolute baller gamer edgy you know that's what we love about mchu Mania right I actually texted him after he got the job and like I could I could almost like Envision his response which was something of the lines of let's blank go yeah um like I almost picture like what he was doing as he was crafting that response like hair kind of flowing a little bit and I I just I love that he's getting this opportunity because there are few guys in this league that I think appreciate that opportunity the way that he does and I think when you appreciate that opportunity and your teammates see you appreciating that opportunity that respect for you grows like even more so right and I think he's earned it um and I think he get I'm glad he's getting a shot to go week one right and instead of like being the guy that comes in week four like he did last year with the Colts and had to carry that team and damn near led him to the playoffs last year let's keep that in mind too right um so I think there's a real opportunity for Gardener to endear himself uh to this fan base to this team to this franchise and to his teammates yeah big time and I think what what's great about this too and and kind of reading between the lines and of what AP has said over the past couple weeks he he he keeps coming back to the phrase like wanting to start fast right you know you look at the Raiders a year ago yes you win the season opener but you wake up in October and you're one and three and you feel like okay now we're kind of climbing climbing the mountain behind the Chiefs but you know the Raiders this year backtack Road games three of the first four teams you're going to play really really good really Stout defenses and it feels like having the Wy vet back there the guy who has seen a lot in the NFL as opposed to Aiden oconnell who who did a phenomenal job last year kind of coming in relief but just doesn't have that wealth of experience yet like it it feels like it it's the logical Mak sense for right now play absolutely absolutely and and look you you never want to look too far down the road and be like you know uh well let's you know let's do it let's hope this works but then you know we still got Aiden if we need to but like you do also right so like that that's something to keep in mind as well guy that's got a ton of uh reps now in this offense and and moving forward that way with with Coach gsy but I think for Gardner um it does give you the ability to start fast because nothing this dude nothing he does is like all right let me let me just dip my toe in the water here and feel this thing out like it's let's jump in let's cannonball into this thing and let's get cooking right away and I think that's kind of what we've seen his entire career like even when he comes in in relief appearances man it's like bam you know like we're not just handing the ball off we can we can let this guy rip it around here a little bit I think it you know at at times what we've seen with Gardner is like there's been an immediate jolt and then a little bit of a leveling off um in some of the places that he's been um but I think that's where guys like zamir white and that's where guys like Devonte Adams come in to really kind of help keep that upward trend line rolling uh with Gardner at the helm of this offense so I think as long as the offens of line stays healthy now that Colton's back and getting jpj rolling um you know speaking of the rookies I I think there's a real opportunity for Gardner to to deal in this luky offense you know and I'm glad you brought up the offensive line too and and certainly all all the people here in this building all the fans at this team been waiting anxiously for Colton to come off the pup list your big you know your big dog franchise left tackle and you're just waiting you're waiting you're waiting and earlier this week he comes off the pup list but I was thinking too like just in like a very kind of reasonable logical way right like if if you're getsy if you're AP and and you make this decision and you're still having some question marks about what this offensive line is going to look like you know understanding maybe it hasn't reached its final form in week one then it does make sense to have a guy like Gardner who can operate Off Script a little bit who is a little more mobile who can play we all love it that backyard style of football so when you look at that it very much seems like okay maybe the offensive line week one isn't what it looks like week eight and maybe let's have the guy who can be a little more creative a little more explosive with his legs out there to kind of do his thing in the meantime I also think it's a little unfair to judge the offensive line right now like you know what I mean like uh Rising tide raises All Ships and that's what Colton Miller is right I think he makes every one of the other four guys along that offensive line better um especially a young guy if you know jpj ends up being the dude you know right next to him like there's opportunities here for Colton Miller to make his impact on on this offensive line like and and then to just raise the overall level of consistency and execution uh among that whole group so I think we got to take that into consideration too and then yeah I think that gives Gardner probably a little bit of um you know not just confidence but like um you know a little a little bit of like yeah just take a breath for a second right because now I got this dude over here who I don't have to worry about what's coming off that left side with col Miller so um I I think that the ultimate judgment and evaluation of what that group looks like up front isn't going to happen until we get as said you know let's talk week two three four and see where we're at at that point yeah big time and look it's you know the nature of the Beast too right where even if if Colton comes in and he's ready to rock week one like this dude doesn't have a lot of uh you know time on task with the current other four right and Colton is about yeah and Colton is about as consumate professional as consumate professional can be but at the same time like this is a dude who missed a majority of training camp it's going to take a minute to get his sea legs under him so yes to your point we're going to have to wait a few weeks and kind of see what it looks like but I need to talk rookies with you sir uh let us begin with the first pick uh Mr Brock Bowers for the silver and black and I remember you and Bucky telling us in gosh early May right that look this dude's going to be good he brings a lot to the table everything that you want to see from a prototypical tight end explosive tight end uh that's exactly what he's going to be and I can report back although he we have not seen him in a ton of preseason action just going through Camp man I mean like I think the term that we keep coming back to we talk about Brock it's as advertised I I mean in the best possible way there have been no surprises and I think this dude's going to be a player in the league man I really do um I would 100% agree with that assessment uh Eddie I mean like I am I'm fired up to see what Luke getsy can do with Brock Bowers because let's not pigeon hole him right as you know a tight end okay because he lined up literally everywhere especially week one you know it was even out wide it was in the slot it was you know attached to the line of scrimmage um I you put him in the back field you know from time to time there is no shortage of ways in which you can capitalize on his skill set and and I think now you've got some creativity within this coaching staff to allow uh Brock blowers Brock Bowers to fly to to really kind of Bloom um you know as one of our one of the silver and blacks rookie flowers here I I'm I'm really excited to see where he goes with this thing I'm also excited to see you know if we get a little a little 12 Personnel out there right we get Mayor and Bowers rolling together what that does for defenses how that changes the way that opposing defensive coordinators want to attack uh what that does for Devonte out on out on the edge and jacobe and maybe even Trey Tucker deep um with that sort of situation so um that's really exciting to me and I I don't even know like I think we should Scratch Out te and we should just write like we should go back to like the the high school recruiting moniker of atth yes just athlete you know what I mean or playmaker we'll just say PM yeah I love it and Point too like I think and we we've talked about this a lot over the past couple months and really since Camp hit like you're 100% right where you know I think all of us Envision this world where it's Brock and Michael Mayor out there you got the 12 Personnel but I I think what's even kind of more I don't know if refreshing is the right word but the thing that I really like is that there is a clear identity to what the Raiders want to do in 2024 right like there is not this secret oh what are they going to be about like are they going to do this that and the other like you know what you're getting from the Raiders you're getting a really really good defense a defense that we all have really big expectations for in 2024 you're going to control the line of scrimmage regardless of who the quarterback was you know you wanted to establish the run you wanted to feed those tight ends so I think that if if you're a fan of the team in 2024 It Feels Like For the first time in a minute and you know certainly compared to 12 months ago you know for better for worse what the 2024 Raiders are going to be about offensively and you know the other thing that kind of struck me as I've been kind of following along you know with as much of the camp storylines as possible uh here and keeping track of you know my my rookie radar is still all the way up here um and it's not just Brock Bowers but it's Dyan lobby as well and like I think this Raiders team has the ability to be the most versatile offense that this franchise has seen in years if not decades and like I I think that it's like it's possible that it's going to be really hard to pigeon hole the ways in which um you know Luke gsy kind of devises ways to put guys into playmaking situations because of the versatility of a brock Bowers and and what Dylan can do as well uh you know I mean guy caught what a 100 Balls at New Hampshire I mean like he's he's fantastic out of the back field um you get his hands on the ball he can you know he makes plays again in the return game as well let's not even um you know make sure not to forget that part of it but I and then you know like obviously you've got one of the best receivers in the game too so I mean there's just so many ways I feel like that you can get out of a Jam um I think that there's so many answers that this offense can provide with the questions that defenses are posing so I I'm really excited about the ways in which we're going to see this offense deployed yeah me too and I think one of the more pleasant speaking of surprises one of the more pleasant surprises of Camp has been one of those rookies right you're looking at DJ glaze on the right side who you know has uh for a variety of re you know reasons seen a lot of burn right he's gotten a lot of opportunity to kind of make his impression felt and so all of a sudden now you look at this offensive line that you felt pretty good about coming into the season but now you look at at the 2025 the 2026 you have jpj you have DJ glaze all of a sudden you're like okay they're building not only a really good front five but they're building a really good you know six seven eight deep which I think I think is pretty exciting along that the big Fells up front yeah and and look let's be honest like you're gonna need more than five yeah um you know it's it is it would be extremely rare to have you know the same five start all 17 and so um the fact that you could you've got guys now that you can rely on that you can count on and you've got ways to get your best five out there I think is also you know pretty important as well um you know depending on where where jpj goes right if Andre goes down can you slide jpj in there uh you know and same thing with you know with Dylan um and what we've seen him do from the Right Guard spot and theer Munford uh you know and DJ glaze you know getting a chance to to both you know have opportunities uh at that right tackle spot I think is really important so yeah they I mean the the fact that you can be seven or eight deep um gives I think everybody on that offense a lot of confidence on game days knowing next guy in we're okay yeah and I think you know and again as like from a fan perspective the fact that maybe your biggest question along the offensive line and an important question still is like who's going to be your swing tackle I I think is that that's a good place to be for an offensive line especially for the Raiders in 2024 but uh before I let you go here man I we were talking about the preseason and it's just so it's interesting how different teams kind of attack this F this preseason finale right Antonio Pierce made it pretty clear did not mince his words he does not expect the starters to play tomorrow night even said heck we're not going to even see Aiden oconnell out there doing his thing it'll be the cter Carter Bradley and Nathan Peterman show uh what do you like kind of where do you fall along that spectrum of should guys play should they not play like it it it feels like there's no right answer and there's no wrong answer in how coaching staff's approach this one there's a lot of different answers yeah many answers we can agree on that but let let me first quickly ring the bell for Carter Bradley a little bit fired up to watch this South Alabama Jaguar quarterback get after it in silver and black and make this start I think he's got a real opportunity to solidify maybe maybe a roster spot if not a for sure practice squad uh spot for this squad um you know depending on on whether they want to carry three quarterbacks or not I I think you know having Gardner there and having Aiden with the year under his belt makes the experience of Nathan Peterman you know kind of expendable at this point especially if Carter can give you if you're confident he can give you a look right uh during the week once we get into the regular season give you a good look for your defense that sort of thing and then you're now you've got a developmental guy as well here and I love I love this opportunity for Carter Bradley I'm rooting for him man he was a fun dude to to watch in college and and to see down in the All-Star Game circuit so uh I'm fired up for him obviously uh obviously d is going to be watching this intently for sure from Indie but um I'm I'm excited for Carter all right as for preseason selfishly Eddie I am on the desk for much of our um NFL Network preseason cover you want them all to play play everyone put play them all at least give me a couple of Series so that we could throw some highlights in in halftime okay and so I'm thankful that AP gave us plenty uh in the first two games um I am thank f for Kyle Shanahan here in game three so that we will see at least some starters on one side of the ticket here in this matchup for the Raiders but yeah it is kind of weird um it is kind of different I should say not weird it's just different um I think you know you look at this and we're what uh eight 15 days away from opening weekend in a way so I think for teams that are choosing to wait until the third pre-season game this does make sense there's still a long runup until that first uh actual regular season action if if you want to give your starters you know uh some some run here in game three but I prefer to see him in two games and I don't really care how you split it you know whether it's one and three or two and three or one and two it all kind of makes sense but I'd love to see some like Bryce young that dude needs to be out there playing yeah right and so I'm glad that Dave Canales is going to give him an opportunity here this weekend against the bills yeah big and and to your earlier point right like the Raiders starters played a lot of football last week I mean we were looking around each other in the box like oh Max is still out there like oh Jack Jones is still out there doing his thing so yeah I it's uh you know I think what's great about Friday night or tomorrow night I should say it's such an opportunity for the guys like Carter Bradley for the Amari gainers of the world you know some of these guys who are you know you see a roster spot kind of in the distance and you're like all right I got to go get it now like this is my chance I kind of see it floating around I gotta go and uh and steal that one and quickly on that front and and this is so hard I think um once we get Beyond this preseason game because I think for so long you know so many of these guys have been competing for roster spots and in position battles right like let's say the receiver battle that fourth fifth receiver you know spot whether you know Wilkerson and gon and that that whole crew um you know fighting out you may not the thing that's hard to Fathom is you may not even be fighting with someone on your team right now you may be fighting the waiver wire pickup that comes you know on Tuesday Wednesday after that third preseason game after you feel like you might have made the cut right and then you know your Tom Tesco is always looking to bolster the bottom of the roster he sees somebody out there that thinks that you know can make the wide receiver group even better than it already is dang man there you go you know so like that's the thing like you better put your best stuff on tape if you are one of those one of those dudes fighting for that last spot in one of those position groups Big Time nap said that yesterday said y look you're not just putting this tape out here for us right there's 31 other teams that if it doesn't work out here you know there's 31 other teams that are going want to take a look at you well R dude it was so good to see you I look forward to seeing you not only on Sundays this year but on Saturdays with all the Big 10 coverage as my Oregon Ducks now dive into this new new world that we're living in and it'll be it'll be a blast man and I can't wait to see you and the guys out there doing your thing I cannot wait for college ball dude I'm very excited for week one can't wait for week one obviously but very excited to see what college football has in store for us this year so uh in the meantime be good it was so good to see you and we'll catch with you soon all right sounds good buddy