Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast: How Massive Are the Next 7 Days #lasvegasraiders #raidernation

hi everybody this is your old pal Uncle Hondo your Las Vegas Raiders beat writer for Sports Illustrated and the host of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast it's great to be with you today I really really appreciate it I've had a couple people ask me so I want to address this they're like Uncle Hondo I don't get um to watch the podcast much so I don't get to hear it um is there a way that you can do Audio Only We already do you can get the audio only of this if you check us out on Spotify or apple check it out there you can get it there but I've had I don't I'm going to guess right around eight people email asking for that because they're not in a place that they could watch so there you go and they're new listeners who started during the training cam coverage so there you go we got a lot to talk about today I'm hoping to get to probably six to eight of your emails but before we do I think we need to talk about how massive these next seven or eight days are for the Raiders because there's a lot coming first of all there is um the Tuesday the team will cut down to 53 players and just because they cut down on Tuesday does not mean all of those 53 people make the final roster now every other NFL team has to cut players now let me tell you what happens each and every year there are very very good players that people are like how did that guy get cut and he got cut because of his salary and what he would cost against the cap and the team just simply couldn't afford to have them now you need to get this a CER clear understanding this started with Dave zegler and and let me tell you uh Tom Tesco was thrilled with it and he has done a masterful job of this the Raiders have 35 million right now in cap space and we don't know who they're going to cut but let's just say it stays roughly at 35 million so they have money to go sign somebody let's say somebody super good gets gets cut because his team just couldn't afford them well it makes a way for the Raiders to go in and drastically upgrade their roster and I'm going to tell you right now every single player on this team is subject to be cut probably well not cut but I mean upgraded if possible so unless you are a Bonafide star you're in danger of that and the Raiders could do it and let me tell you something Tom Tesco would I'm gonna get into a lot on my podcast Tuesday night after they announced the cutdowns you're going to understand why I'll get into a more of that on on Tuesday Tuesday night but Tom Tesco would absolutely so unless you can look at a player and goes that guy is probably the best in the NFL then that guy would be safe but anyone else subject to being cut so when you understand the enormity of that there still is although I don't think it's um probable still it's possible that they could absolutely go make an addition um via trade I think defensive line are places that they could do some upgrades and offensive line is a place where they could certain uh do some upgrades and I think corner is an absolute possibility that was a possibility um all when you look at all of the uh off season there was potential there sometimes value didn't meet what people wanted to spend and the Raiders are extremely disciplined remember they're not gamblers anymore they're investors so I think people need to really keep an eye out for this now there may not be any guys cut so the Raiders don't sign anybody but the point is they don't know what the thinking process is now here's how what here's what happens through the process team a calls the Raiders hey we got a really good corner here are you interested in trading for him absolutely what do you want we want this this and this whoa that's too rich and then Tesco goes and looks at their roster Tom Tesco is one of a handful there are there are some but nowhere near all that he is staff that have masterfully analyzed every team's roster and they go and look and say listen they're way with a c they're asking a lot for that guy no they're GNA end up having to cut him and so there comes a point when you have to say Okay the value doesn't equal cost there there were a couple chances the Raiders could have made some some trades I I alluded to one um I alluded to one earlier this year and the team's price was just way too high so if that team W end up cutting the player then all of a sudden he's going play for the Raiders and oh by the way you're sitting there with 35 million and there's a lot of teams that aren't you're players remember this time of year after the 53 man cutdown it is a matter of show me the money who's got the money and a lot of teams don't a lot of teams are not cap disciplined like the Raiders were and it started under Dave zler and continues under Tom Tesco they're not and my dad used to always say this he'll get a kick out of this you know when a little kid some adults are this way but when a little kid gets a little bit of money in their pocket and they just want to go to the store and spend it you want to save no my dad used to say get got a hole in their pocket and there are some teams that literally run NFL franchises that way it's it's baffling to me me baffling to me and if you're wondering about Tom Tesco and and the Chargers they were not always that way but some decisions Tom would would refute this because he's a gentleman but I'm telling you I believe it to be true because of the people who told me there were some decisions made by people over Tom Tesco's head with the Chargers and if you're GM you could probably figure out who's over his head and so the team was certainly not in great cap space when he left but that's not anything that I hold on him based on people um who are very much aware of the situation so again there's other reasons why you want to be through plus what if [ __ ] continues to play the way he does all right they're gonna have to look at a at a at a extension lot of questions here but these next seven or eight days are Mammoth and Raider Nation so keep your eyes out and remember something Bill bellich did this for decades and and and sometimes fans underappreciate it I don't think Raiders will because they're smart look at how good Greg van Ron did last year you can go plug a guy sometimes who's not a big name you think oh great we just signed this guy I remember last year there was a lot of people frustrated when the Raiders signed Jack Jones he turned out all right so sometimes a role player there were whole entire offseasons where all Bill bichi signed was signed was very affordable role players all they did was win Super Bowls with or go to Super Bowls so these are very big seven and eight days we're going to keep you totally AB breast of it and I think that you're going to uh enjoy it and again defensive back field in both lines is is a big deal all right let's get into some of your emails now I'd love to get into it the first one comes us from Carmen Carmen T Carmen says Hondo I have an interesting question for you I know that you were gifted a pair of Air Force Ones last year from a member of the organization can you tell us who and I saw you at two preseason games and you weren't wearing them I thought you said you were going to wear them to all the games Carmen t no not gonna tell you but they were a gift my wife went out and bought black socks I learned my lesson and but you didn't see me wearing them at um any of the preseason games I will wear them for regular season and postseason games only I'm not going to wear them out and about in the town they're for Raiders postseason and regular season real games thank you for watching Carmen next one comes to us from Derek B wants to know what's going on with the field boy I got a lot of this the field just looked terrible okay not gonna lie it looked terrible it was preseason we've seen it not look good also during the regular season first of off you're trying to grow grass in the desert in the desert I agree with you that the field does not look great I would however say to you let's withhold judgment until regular season I believe it's something that they're going to have corrected at least what that's what's been implied to me but I agree the field looked terrible I would was told asking some players about it it didn't play terrible but it certainly looked terrible on national TV there you go Derek great question next one comes to us from Johnny s um wants to know what areas I think AP needs to improve on Johnny I think this is a great question and I'm certainly not afraid to be critical but I have a rule and maybe you don't know because we have grown so fast pass that maybe you're new I give a lot of leeway to coaches their first 20 games and I don't count AP intern um he'd never even been a head coach before so I'm gonna wait with whole judgment um there's nowhere to me that is a uh an absolute at this moment glaring weakness there is one area that I am concerned about but it's only a concern and then a couple areas I have my eyes on um I think for a guy that's never been a head coach before I I've Loved 95% of what he's done I think he's going to be a long-term viable answer for the Raiders he's going to make mistakes this year he's going to learn from them I'm just telling you right now and you need to remember that because if you want to go to social media not just but anyone else fire the guy fire the guy well if you're one of the people that wanted them this is the cost that comes with a first-time head coach but again there's only one area that I'm I would tell you that I'm really concerned about we're going to keep an eye on that put and and we're just going to let that go for right now couple areas that I'm not really worried about but I'm watching closely so we're going to see but I think it's too early now because there may be areas that he's already addressing so let's wait and let this play out a little bit that's like um years ago my uh son Shane was not talking a lot and I was greatly concerned about it and I even asked the doctor about it they laughed at me they laughed at me and go relax pretty soon he's never going to shut up and so the concern was premature he needed to grow into his age I think that's going to be the same with ap but there is one area of which I'm watching very closely I don't think it would be fair for me to present it right now um yeah I don't think it would be fair for me to present it right now but it's an area that I'm watching closely and I even put a tweet out I had even had a media member kind of take a shot at me for it which is hilarious considering they had no idea what I was talking about and I just put on there um it was the Dallas Cowboy game bookmark this tweet big night for the Raiders and um I'm gonna come back and talk about that tweet eventually not now and but I wanted everyone to know that I put something out there and and now I'm gonna wait and see how it goes I'm gonna watch how AP expertly moves around it or how he has to you know this concern when I say it don't don't try to read into it um and uh but we'll talk about it and I'm I have learned I I believe in people like AP they're genuine they're real they're honest they're forthright he's a man of integrity it's not a a character issue with him at all but I think he'll deal with it and and I think it'll be something that will come back to be hey look at how he handled this this is a great example of him so I'm not going to address it now but that's a good question Johnny next one comes from Jeff a why am I more why am I meaning Hondo more optimistic than Vegas and other media first of all I don't give a rat's butt what another media member reports you people keep asking me to comment on their reports I don't care I don't care there are a lot of good reporters and if you want to go with another one that's absolutely your right but I could name you multiple things where I disagreed with the media on and I was right so please I'm going to tell my staff moving forward any more emails asking for comments on other media I'm not making it and I'm not going to make one here all I can tell you is I'm at every practice and of this entire preseason I saw what I saw nothing for me to get into now as far as Vegas that's a very good question in my four years this is my fifth year but in my previous four four years I beat Vegas three of the four years and only once did I not and it was a terrible prediction and I got it horrifically wrong horrifically wrong very very bad and I admit that and I don't change it um Vegas though doesn't predict what they think the Raiders are going to do remember they try to put the line where it gets people to bet many of you if you're college football fans are very familiar with Phil Steel's college football preview magazine um Phil is a dear friend of mine not a good friend a genuine dear friend I love Phil steel with all of my heart um and I think he would reciprocate those same feelings we're very close um years ago on my television show I asked Phil about his predictions um how do you do his predictions and he talked about my job as a betting guy is to is to bet the the lines of winning he said but when Vegas puts the odds out it's not because they think this team's going to win or that team's going to lose it's where they think they have to put the line for people to vote so I don't mind judging Vegas because they're not really picking winners and losers they're I mean I know they give the over under but what they think a win total will be but that's to get people to vote and to hedge their money so but other media I have no clue now I will address this I have found media now one thing you need to know about media and this may surprise you is that you get more clicks when a team is winning and prospering and and kicking butt uh excuse me get less Kicks When things are going good and a ton more clicks when everything's going bad it's not even close I mean it is exponentially exponentially bigger much bigger and what you need to understand about that because this is super important but what you need to understand about that is so there's a lot of media that okay they're told you got to get x amount of clips well what's get more clicks negative I'm not saying every negative piece by the media is that but I know for a fact there's a lot of them I've told this story many times and I could have told it a 100 ways from Tuesday because I've heard it many times but I'm in the in a press box at a major league baseball stadium by the way they're not a sponsor but Wild Bills diet root beer woo shoot this thing really good no carbs great not a sponsor but I love it thank you to my wife um I'm at a Major League Baseball Press Box and a very very very famous media member Super Famous I would guess 95% of our audience would know who this person was turned and said all right boys give me something just stupid and Preposterous and negative that all these idiots will click on I remember that night after leaving the game he and I were going down the Press Box elevator together and I looked at him and said I want you to know something I will never talk about you behind your back that's not the way I roll but I have I used to genuinely I didn't always agree but I genuinely liked what you did and tonight I literally don't respect you I said our bosses are the fans how dare you do that to those people they don't deserve that and I not going to tell you it is publicly I'm not calling I'm not trying to embarrass anybody but there's a lot of people that just know negativity sells negativity sells it just does isn't it amazing you can watch politicians all their commercials do is Rip each other I would just like one politician to make a commercial saying something positive about just talk about them if your whole commercial is about the person you're running against stupid to me stupid and I'm just going to tell you though that I don't try to be a cheerleader but I also don't try to be a sky is falling guy I believe this um in fact I was talking to a couple of Raiders about it the other day but they brought up not this subject but another subject up with me and couple of players I think there were three of us there talking and um I took the route years ago which is the route that journalism used to take which is I want to be completely fair I want to do my job thorough and at the end of the day people may not like me or they not may not always like my takes or appreciate my takes but they'll always be able to say Hondo Carpenter was fair with my team I have written very difficult things about players and had them write me letters emails texts come up to me say I really appreciate the fact that when you have been critical of me you have always been fair I I had a Raider this year say to me I want you to know I know you've been hard on me but it means the world to me that every time you are you you mention that you think I'm a good person you've never made it personal to me and I want you to know I respect you for that that you know that I think that's important I think it's important to be fair just because a football player makes a mistake doesn't mean they're a bad human being it just means they made a bad football player some guys are bad players some guys are just not good players that's okay it's not the end of the world I'll give you a quick example so I've been friends with Brian Hoyer for years I mean I was at his grandma's funeral he he taught my son how to throw football in his parents' backyard um very close to him his parents all his family and uh when Brian got signed I said he why he was brought in to be almost like a quarterback coach to to bring along Aiden to be there in a short-term situation to fill in for Jimmy because he understood the system until a until uh Aiden was ready and when Jimmy was failing I made the comment the Raiders need to go with Aiden and people like why would you not say your buddy Brian because I don't think Brian could have led at that point in his career a franchise don't think he was a franchise quarterback do I love Brian of course love him dearly do I think his wife and children are precious people I do and Mom and Dad both brothers his sister I Lauren her husband his nieces and his nieces and if of course I love him but it doesn't mean that my job is to go up and say oh Brian can do this I think we saw him when he did start he couldn't he couldn't so see you I don't come from it from a negative standpoint I just come at it from a very realistic standpoint So when you say how come you're more optimist in other people maybe some people are genuinely think it's negative and I think there are some really genuinely good people who cover the Raiders maybe they come at life from a negative standpoint and so they just see everything negatively I don't I I come at life the glasses half full every day I wake up I'm blessed I have a wonderful family a great job work for a great company I serve a god who's a god of Grace live in an amazing country you're down right I wake up with my attitude positive this is the day I'm excited about today I'm looking forward to waking up and it's tomorrow I was raised by a dad that taught his sons everybody in your life's going to be oh it's Monday it sucks you get up saying thank God it's Monday because when you go to work and everybody else is dragging you're going to be humping and bumping more money will be made on Mondays than any day of the week cuz you it's still kind of an off day for your competitor so AR his my dad trained his kids to think about M and I have mine Mondays is a good day Mondays is a great day it's a good day that's just my outb online I look at things from a different perspective when it's time to be negative I'm negative any of y'all who are oldtimers OG ge's been watching in this podcast you know what happened last year when Josh McDaniels hit his 20th game it was like oh dear God I even had somebody in the organization say woo the L question literal question what did Josh pishing you're weedies or what I said what are you talking about hey you're going after him a little tough I said tough he said 20 games H yeah you're right and so anyways that's why again not addressing other media but the Vegas thing for sure their job isn't trying to tell you what they're trying to move betting lines all right let's get to the next one this one comes from my buddy alesandro C from Italy he says um he wanted to know do I think the QB battle hurt the QBs that's a good question no but I still think it's a good question alesandro and I'll tell you why if you have quarter backs that a quarterback battle bothers you know the game's gonna you know the game's gonna I don't think it bothered him in the least bit I think there were other reasons I'll get into that in another question in a minute next one comes from Dan L Hondo you say that the Raiders have a good system under gsy and they do good players around the quarterbacks I agree could the problem be quarterback coach this is a great question again I'm trying to remember this is some Dan L this is a great question I don't think it's coaching I really sincerely don't I want to go back and I want to read the next email and then I'm going to answer both of your questions in totality it comes from Roxy s Roxy s says Dear Hondo I heard you on Sirius FM after church on on Sunday and it was amazing you were so good I appreciate you putting the host in his place when he said that you said both quarterbacks had a terrible off season and you told him quote I never said terrible I said disappointing unquote thought it was great I wish you could get more into the QB battle and why you think it happened the way it did okay so I'm gonna answer both your questions Roxy and Dan I love Luke getsy system that I've seen all of Camp I understand that you haven't I get that 100% get that and if I was you I'd be unless it's a media person I trust I'd be skeptical too number one number two I love the Personnel love it I love the wide receiver room I love the tight end room I love the running back room I really like the offensive line there is enough here for a quarterback to step in with that defense and win and win big if the Raiders had a superstar quarterback I absolutely 110% believe now there's a difference between a good quarterback and a superstar if they had a superstar quarterback an Aaron Rogers type A Tom Brady type Patrick Mahomes type uh a uh yeah a Joe burough type A Josh Allen type there are a few there's a few of them I think they would absolutely be competing at the highest level there's just that many weapons plus Superstar quarterbacks know how to do things that others don't and I think that's important but I digress the both quarterbacks and this can even touch into the question I was asked earlier about why are you more optimistic the Raiders hope Brock Bowers can do a lot of amazing things in this draft same with DJ glaze Tommy freak and ikenberg MJ devenshire Dyan Lobby I can go on and on and on on but in every one of those draft picks they have no idea they're only hoping because none of those draft picks have a proven track record of success in the National Football League okay there's no hope with Aiden you know he can do it in this league his last five games nine touchdowns one interception you know that you know what Aiden can do now he has a huge ceiling potentially but you don't know what his ceiling is you know what his floor is Minnesota game but you don't know what his ceiling is Garder muu he's had great success in the National Football League you you're not hoping that Gardner can do something he's never done see this is where sometimes the Doom and Gloom I don't understand it you know my son Shane he's a sophomore in college I know he can do math he was in AP math all the way through high school he's math brain gets it from his mother not me my son Dexter I hope he's GNA do good in math but he's too so I have hope for Dexter expectation for Shane same principle here I have expectations I know everyone is like oh my God the sky is falling the Raider quarterback situation has been this this and this I'm gonna tell you what the Raider quarterback situation is disappointing but not anywhere near like everyone is trying to paint in my opinion but I'm not a fan my job is to be an analyst and be reasonable I have to live in realville and realville tells me you have two men that you were expecting now they thought both men would come in and competing with all this Talent around them they were both going to step their game up a level they did not period I know Aiden really well and I'm developing a good racial relationship with Gardner but I know Aiden well and I know Aiden will tell you didn't play to the standard that I had hoped I believe Gardner would say the same thing I don't know him as good as Aiden but I'm getting there and I do believe that Gardner would tell you the exact same thing he gave it all though both guys worked hard neither guy was lazy neither guy only gave half effort none of that went on if you're a Raider you got two guys with a proven track record and two men with a great work ethic okay I expect hard work to win and when you've already proven to me you can do it it's going to be okay it's going to be okay Max Crosby last year the last several games was not Max Crosby but he was playing with potentially putting his life on the line were we were any of us worried he was going to come back and not be even better not if you're reasonable why because you understood why it was disappointing the end of the year but he also had shown you a work ethic you are totally reasonable if you say Gardner mchu and Aiden oconnell were disa were disappointing in the preseason 100% correct but to call him trash no no I'm gonna say this I was asked recently how would you describe the Raider quarterback play in preseason and I said who it looked like the Raiders had two backup quarterbacks unquote that's what I said I'm using quotes around my own words stupid sorry I did say that and I stand by it that's what they looked like but they also have both looked like very quality starting quarterbacks in the NFL we have that to go on as a future performance being indicative excuse me a past performance being indicative of a future expectation disappointing sure do they both have something to prove you bet you you bet you but I hope that answers your question no I don't think it's quarterback play um I mean quarterback coaching it could be if neither guy improves as the season goes on then I think you absolutely have to look at coaching because both men have done it previous but I don't think it's the case now I really don't and let me just say this to you I really like the creativity of the Luke getsy offense I do it's exactly the offense that Aaron roders um won a Super Bowl in and and they were so successful for many years I really really like it a lot and I think it's it's going to be really good last question comes in that I'm going to get to tonight uh again I thought it was another great one um I want to address it Honda you have mentioned about potential of even an Aaron Rogers coming here next year what would make you think that well there are several reasons Luke gs's here he's very close to Luke he's very close to Joe filin and very close to Devonte Adams on a team where if you put Aaron Rogers on the Raiders today I not only think you don't expect a a playoffs I think you're looking at them potentially potentially being a massive Contender a massive Contender this team already beat the chiefs with very little offense you've added Brock Bowers you've watched a year of maturity from Trey Tucker DJ Turner zamir white Alexander Madison so yeah I think it's an absolute do I think it's a probability no possibility yes yes I do so that's why plus I've had a couple birdies from around the league allude to me that could you imagine this team they go well if both quarterbacks fail which I'm telling you right now I I don't expect that but they could if both quarterbacks fail they go draft a rookie but they're not going to go back they're going to stay competitive because that's the that's what Mark Davis has set win now can you imagine they go get an Aaron Rodgers to play for one or two years and go get a stud rookie you never know do you never know but I'm GNA tell you I don't think it comes to that I think Gardner or Aiden you know I wasn't going to address this last one because I'm in a hurry I'm up looking at the time but I'm going to do one more it comes to us from Vivien Vivien y Hondo now that camp is over did you have a preference going into Camp of whether Aiden or Garder would win it nope didn't I knew the what the organization felt I shared that with you but no I didn't I didn't I I think both quarterbacks you can win with based upon past performance being indicative of future expectations but if they continue at the level they are now no I don't think the Raiders can win all right everybody remember keep your eyes out later this week I'm not sure if it's going to be Thursday of this week or in eight days on Monday of the first week I'll give my if there's any revamp I'm gonna go back over my season win loss prediction and lay the stage for as we get ready to go to the bolts listen appreciate you got a very very special show tomorrow you're not going to want to miss from all of us to you God bless you I also want to address one other area for those of you that are a member of this podcast um Vel Los Vegas Raiders Inside podcast with hondu Carpenter this this uh YouTube page please make sure you watch the video that says for members only please make sure you watch that I need to hear from you there's a special thing if you're not a member nothing changes for you you're still going to get the podcast every day nothing's being taken from you but some people have just voluntarily decided to become members and it's grown and I want to do something extra for them so there's no pressure you do not have to become a member if you do it's $4.99 a month but if you do there's something extra special it's going to happen 24 times a year and U look forward to uh having you all participate so if you're a member please watch that video and follow all the expectations and if you're not no pressure nothing changes for you God bless you everybody man only one more Sunday till we're full scale into football I hope you got to enjoy your family today I sure did mine big shout out to my family I love them dearly appreciate youall have a good day again God bless you